King's Opening
by surrexi
Summary: Part 1 of a three-part series called Battlefield Antar. M/L, M/M, Kyle/Izzy. A year after fleeing Roswell, the gang returns only to leave again - for Antar. Complete! Now you can anxiously await the sequel!
1. Black Horizon

Title: King's Opening

Rating: PG-13/R

Category: M/L, M/M, Ky/I

Disclaimer: I don't own Roswell and I never have. Don't sue me, I'm just a poor college student, you wouldn't get anything anyway.

Summary: Part One of the Battlefield Antar series. The group is summoned to Antar after a year roaming the US in their battered VW van.

Chapter 1 – Black Horizon

Kyle grimaced as he examined the engine of the beat-up VW van the gang had been travelling in since fleeing graduation a year earlier. Sending up a silent thanks to Buddha for blessing him with alien powers, Kyle set to work. Even with his new powers, it was going to take him at least an hour to get the van up and running again. He glanced up from the battered engine.

"Hey Michael?"

"Yeah, Kyle?"

"Don't ever drag race BMW's in this van again, or I will have burn you from the inside out."

Michael smiled broadly. "Whatever you say, buddy." He turned to Maria, who was just getting out of the van. "Sounds like we've got time to kill. Where's the others?"

"Isabel's taking a nap in the back. Max and Liz went for a walk," Maria responded, looking out into the desert. "Do you think it's safe?"

Michael looked at Maria quizzically. "Max and Liz taking a walk?"

"No...I mean do you think it's safe being back in New Mexico?"

Michael kicked the dust at his feet and stared pensively down the road behind the van. About five miles back they'd crossed into New Mexico. "I think we're as safe here as we are anywhere else." He drew Maria into the protective circle of his arms. "We'll be okay, babe."

"Do you think we'll go back to Roswell?" Michael shrugged, but didn't answer. That was the question. Max, he knew, had been having dreams that led him to believe they needed to return. Isabel wouldn't say what she dreamed, and Michael – well, Michael wasn't sleeping much at all, though he couldn't say why. Liz, their own personal crystal ball, had nothing to say on the subject either. Michael was just riding the wave.

Just out of sight from the van, Max and Liz walked hand in hand across the desert. They weren't saying anything at the moment, just enjoying walking together in the desert they loved. Then Liz broke the silence.

"It's good for you, isn't it? Being back in New Mexico."

Max squeezed her hand and nodded. They reached a large rock and sat down on it. Max pulled Liz into his arms and took a deep breath. "Liz...have you been having any visions about us? The group I mean, not just me and you."

Liz twisted around to look into Max's eyes. "Nothing troubling. I would have told you."

"I know, I know. But I mean any visions. Any at all?"

"Well, there have been some." Liz began to absently fiddle with the diamond ring on her finger. "Come to think of it, while they weren't troubling, they were a bit odd."

"Odd?"

"A bit. You know when I have visions of us they're fairly impressionistic, not like the ones I get of other people. Well, I just get the impression in the visions that there's something different about where we are, but I can't pinpoint what it is." Liz glanced at Max. "It's just odd," she finished.

"Yeah," Max echoed. "Odd." They sat in companionable silence until Liz once again broke in.

"We're going back to Roswell, aren't we, Max?" Their eyes locked and Max slowly nodded. Liz took a deep breath and nodded back. "Okay." Something was coming. In that moment Liz knew it, knew that Max could feel it too. It was as if suddenly a dark line of black clouds had stretched itself over their horizon. She worried not about what she could see, but about what she could not see.

The silence returned to wrap itself around Max and Liz as they sat drawing strength from each other in the middle of the New Mexico desert. Halfway across the universe, silence wrapped itself around someone else as well, although he didn't find it nearly as comforting. He turned to the man sitting nervously on the other side of the massive table.

"You're positive," he asked after a long and intense stare. "You are absolutely sure they're planning to move?"

"Yes, General." The man swallowed convulsively then pulled tight the reins on his control. "I have every reason to trust my sources. The Resistance is planning on bringing back the king, and soon."

Kivar's fist slammed down onto the polished mahogany surface of the conference table. "He's not the king, goddammit! I rule this planet now, not him!" He ran his fingers through his hair, trying to calm his frayed nerves.

"I'm sorry, General."

"You'd better be. Leave me be. See if you can find some good news for a change." The man left, and Kivar was wrapped in silence once again.


	2. Coming Home

Title: King's Opening

Rating: PG-13/R

Category: M/L, M/M, Ky/I

Disclaimer: I don't own Roswell and I never have. Don't sue me, I'm just a poor college student, you wouldn't get anything anyway.

Summary: Part One of the Battlefield Antar series. The group is summoned to Antar after a year roaming the US in their battered VW van.

Chapter Two – Coming Home

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Maxwell?" Michael's voice was filled with doubt.

"It's what has to be done, Michael." Max glanced at Michael's face in the rear-view mirror. "Don't you feel it? I know you haven't been sleeping." Michael grumbled in response, but returned his attention to the desert flying by outside the van's windows.

Max reached across to the passenger seat and took Liz's hand. Liz squeezed Max's hand in a gesture of love and support, and Max allowed himself to take his eyes off the road for a moment to smile at her.

"So, Fearless Leader," Kyle began flippantly. "What's the plan?"

"Well, we're certainly not just driving in and announcing our presence. But if you want to see your dad, we'll figure out a way."

"How did you know..." Kyle trailed off. "Never mind. I don't want to know how you knew." Kyle sat in silence for a few moments before another question entered his mind. "Max, why are we doing this now?"

Max was silent. Kyle looked to Liz, but she didn't say anything either. Then Isabel spoke from the back of the van. "Because we're leaving soon. That's why, isn't it?" She leaned forward, fear in her eyes. "Liz had a vision or something, and we're leaving."

Max slowed the van to a stop, then turned to look his sister in the eye. "We don't know anything for sure. Liz hasn't had any specific visions about anything, and certainly not about anything threatening." He glanced at the others in the van. "But we can feel something coming. Don't try and tell me you haven't been feeling it too." With that, he pulled the van back onto the open highway and sped towards Roswell.

Serena Carrington stared anxiously out the window of the Travel Inn in Roswell, New Mexico. She could feel Max, Michael, and Isabel getting closer. That she understood. What she didn't understand was the other two people she felt. She knew, logically, that the royals would have companions. She just hadn't thought they would be alien. She needed Liam, just to touch for strength, but he was back on Antar awaiting her return. So Serena gathered her iron composure around herself like a shield and prepared to meet her king.

Max pulled the van to stop in almost exactly the same spot it had stopped when Jesse had brought it there a year ago. He didn't stop to enjoy the irony of beginning and ending the wild ride in the old Volkswagen in the same place. Grudgingly, he was beginning to believe in fate.

"End of the line," he announced. He unbuckled his seat belt and got out of the van. He stretched his arms over his head and watched as the rest of his patched-together family piled out of the van. By tacit agreement, they packed up all their belongings into the various bags and backpacks they'd collected over the past year. When they were all packed, they stood there just looking at the van, reflecting on the past year.

"You know," Kyle commented. "If I'd known that today was the last time we'd use this old thing I wouldn't have wasted quite so much of my morning fixing the damn thing." The rest of the group chuckled and turned away from the van as a unit.

"It's getting late," Max said, glancing towards the setting sun. "We should find somewhere to stay." The group walked towards the town in a thoughtful silence, each carefully considering their options. Did they split up, or stick together? Did they trust their parents not to make too big of a fuss, or did they avoid them all together?

"I think we should split up," Liz stated, finally putting something up for debate.

"What?" Isabel's face showed confusion and fear, quickly masked.

"We haven't been split up for a year, Liz," Maria put in. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"We've been paranoid for a year, Maria. And anyway, I think we're safer spread out in this situation." She held each person's gaze for a few seconds before continuing. "The last time they almost got us here was because we were all in the same place. We were easy targets, they could get all of us at once. If we split up, they won't be able to do that."

Max nodded his agreement, watched as the others began to agree as well. Only when he'd seen each of them nod their heads affirmatively did he pick up where Liz left off. "We'll split into three pairs. Liz and I will go to Liz's house, Michael and Maria will go to Maria's house, and Isabel and Kyle can go to my parents' house."

"Wait," Kyle interrupted. "What about my dad?" Liz abruptly giggled. Kyle, along with everyone else, shot her a thoroughly bewildered glance.

"Sorry," she managed, biting back a snort. "It's just that I think Maria and Michael will find your dad when they look for Maria's mom."

Maria dropped Michael's hand and advanced towards Liz, her mouth hanging open in shock. "Chica..." she began warningly. "You had a vision, didn't you? About my mom and Kyle's dad. And you didn't tell us? Oh, Liz."

"I swear Maria, it just popped into my head when Kyle mentioned his dad," Liz responded quickly, putting her hands up in gesture of innocence.

"It just popped into your head?" Michael asked. Liz nodded. "Your powers are getting stronger." Liz nodded again.

"I feel sort of like Cordelia on Angel," she joked. "Minus the headaches of course. Random visions when I least expect them." Her words drew tense smiles from the group.

Soon they hit the edge of town. "Here's where our paths split," Max stated. "Tomorrow we meet in the Crashdown for breakfast."

"Are you sure that's safe, Maxwell?" Michael questioned.

"Yeah, just gathering out in public like that?" Maria added.

"We've got a few days cushion before we really have to start worrying. The FBI's busy following the bogus trail we left them from Houston," Max responded.

Isabel smiled, remembering how much fun they'd had creating the trail that would lead investigators all the way to Canada. "Hopefully they're still on their way north."

"So it's settled then?" Max asked. Everyone nodded. "Okay. Breakfast's at nine."

Isabel hugged Max and Michael, then turned to follow Kyle to the Evans home. Maria and Liz also embraced, then Liz and Max headed straight on towards the Crashdown. Maria and Michael set off for Maria's old house.


	3. Reunions

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Title: King's Opening

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Rating: PG-13/R

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Category: M/L, M/M, Ky/I

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Disclaimer: I don't own Roswell and I never have. Don't sue me, I'm just a poor college student, you wouldn't get anything anyway.

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Summary: Part One of the Battlefield Antar series. The group is summoned to Antar after a year roaming the US in their battered VW van.

****

Chapter Three - Reunions

Kyle and Isabel climbed the steps in front of the Evans home and stood uncertainly on the steps.

"Should we knock?" Kyle asked.

"I don't know," Isabel responded. "I guess I can't just walk in."

"So then we better knock."

"Okay." Isabel reached out and knocked on the door. She and Kyle stood nervously waiting. Isabel noticed that Kyle would turn and scan the street behind them every couple of seconds. Then the door opened, and Isabel was looking into her mother's shocked eyes.

"Isabel?"

"Mom...can we come in?" Diane blinked and moved out of the doorway.

"Of course, of course. Come in. Sit in the living room." She glanced up the stairs. "Phillip! Get down here!" She followed Isabel and Kyle into the living room and sat down in a chair across from the couch they had chosen to sit in.

Phillip entered the living room. "What is it, hon..." he began, only to trail off when he saw Isabel. "Izzy?"

Isabel smiled. "Hi, dad."

Suddenly everyone but Kyle was moving as Isabel and Diane both rose at once and then Phillip and the women were hugging and babbling. Kyle shook his head. Perhaps it was a good thing that his dad would be prepared when he saw Kyle. None of this babbling and craziness.

Soon enough, the three Evanses were seated again, and Isabel's parents were ready for an explanation.

"First off, let me say that everyone is fine," Isabel began. "The reason that only Kyle and I are here is that we decided to split up when we got here. Max and Liz went to the Parkers', and Michael and Maria went to Maria's mom's house. We're going to meet for breakfast tomorrow." Diane let out a sigh of relief, and Phillip closed his eyes for a second in a quick prayer of thanks. 

"But why did you come back now?" Phillip asked.

"Well, sir, we really don't know," Kyle answered, knowing that this part of the explanation would distress Isabel. "For the past year we've really just been wandering...doing good deeds and avoiding the law, as Liz likes to say. But in the last week or so, things changed. Max started having odd dreams, Michael wasn't sleeping, and Liz had some weird visions." Kyle noticed Isabel trembling, and reached out to take her hand. "We didn't understand them, but the consensus was that we should come back here."

Phillip and Diane nodded, accepting the simple explanation and understanding that neither Kyle nor Isabel wished to go into any further detail. Then Diane decided that Kyle and Isabel needed to be fed and sent Phillip upstairs to make beds for them. Kyle and Isabel made no arguments. And hour and a half after knocking on the door, they trudged quietly up the stairs. They stopped in front of Isabel's bedroom.

"You gonna be okay, Iz?" Kyle asked quietly.

"Um, yeah. I'll be fine." Isabel smiled weakly. "It's good to be home." Kyle returned her smile, reaching out to tuck a wayward strand of hair back behind her ear. Then he reached down, gave her hand a squeeze and said goodnight.

Across town, Maria lay curled with Michael in her old bed reflecting on her own reunion with her mother. Amy had gone crazy when she opened the door to find Maria standing there, holding hands with Michael. After much jumping up and down and screeching, Maria, Michael, and Jim Valenti had managed to calm Amy down.

"So, Mom...married now I see."

Amy beamed at Jim and then at her daughter. "Very happily so." Then she sent Michael a hard glare. "And you? Are you married yet?"

"Yes, Mrs. Deluca." Amy had trouble concealing the look of surprise on her face. Quickly recovering, she told him warmly "Then call me Mom."

Michael swallowed nervously. "Okay...Mom." Maria beamed.

Jim had asked them many rapid-fire questions, including some they had no answers to. He was happy to hear that Kyle was all right, and eager to see him again in the morning.

When Amy finally allowed them to get some much-needed rest, Michael and Maria had gratefully slid under the cool sheets. Michael, for the first time in weeks, fell straight asleep, while Maria lay awake thinking. She sent up prayers for the others in the group, then rolled over and laid her head on Michael's chest.

Max and Liz were still awake, discussing the day's events and the future of the group on Liz's old balcony.

"My dad took it pretty well, us being back," Liz commented.

"Yeah," Max agreed. "Your mom too. I bet my mom cried more."

Liz chuckled softly. "I bet Maria's mom screamed more." Max smiled, imagining Amy Deluca's response to seeing Michael and Maria on her doorstep. They sat in companionable silence for long moments, each staring pensively up at the stars.

"It's happening tomorrow, Max...whatever it is, it's happening tomorrow, isn't it?"

Max sighed. "I think so."

"We have so little time."

"I know."

"Are you ready?"

Max turned to look Liz steadily in the eye. "As long as you're with me, I'm ready for anything. Without you, I'm ready for nothing."

"I'm here. I'll always be here."

"I love you so much, Liz."

"I know. I love you, too. Let's go to bed, eh? It's late, we've a long day ahead of us."

With that, Liz stood up and crawled back in her window. Max did the same, and the crawled into Liz's bed. Pressing a kiss to Liz's forehead, Max gathered her into his arms so that her head was pillowed on his shoulder.

"Goodnight, Liz."

"Goodnight, Max."


	4. Breakfast and Pep Talks

Title: King's Opening

Rating: PG-13/R

Category: M/L, M/M, Ky/I

Disclaimer: I don't own Roswell and I never have. Don't sue me, I'm just a poor college student, you wouldn't get anything anyway.

Summary: Part One of the Battlefield Antar series. The group is summoned to Antar after a year roaming the US in their battered VW van.

Chapter 4 - Breakfast and Pep Talks

Max glanced at the clock on the wall of the Crashdown. It was ten minutes till nine. He stared pensively at the murals on the wall until Liz slid into the booth next to him. She set down two steaming plates of pancakes with whipped cream and tobasco sauce. Max smiled at her and pressed a kiss to her temple when she eagerly dug into the sweet and spicy mixture.

"Did anybody ever tell you that you eat funny combinations of food?" he joked.

"Yeah," she said flippantly. "My husband's a bad influence on me." Max laughed and slung his arm over Liz's shoulders before digging into his own pancakes.

Suddenly the front door of the Crashdown swung open.

"JEFF! NANCY! My baby's come home!"

Liz giggled softly and whispered to Max. "Hurricane Amy has entered the building." Max snorted.

Jeff and Nancy came out from the back of the restaurant and greeted Amy and Jim Valenti. Michael and Maria slid into Max and Liz's booth, sitting across from them.

"How'd it go?" Liz asked.

Maria rolled her eyes. "Her first coherent question was whether or not Michael and I were married." Liz smiled knowingly. "You couldn't have put that in your journal," Maria continued. "I know she read it, she was raving about how wonderfully romantic yours and Max's story is."

"Maria, you didn't get married until two months after I mailed the journal to my dad."

"That's beside the point." Michael started to laugh at Maria's comment, but a hard stare from her was all it took to have Michael converting laughs into coughs.

Just then, Isabel, Kyle, and the Evanses entered the café. Diane Evans immediately broke off from the group and rushed to Max's table, where Max and Liz had dutifully got up so that Diane could hug Max.

"Oh my God, Max, it is so wonderful to see you again after a year since...since you left," she gushed. Max smiled and returned his mother's gleeful hug.

"Hey Mom. It's good to be back."

"And Liz," Max's mom continued, pulling Liz into her arms for a hug. "Welcome to the family, honey."

"Thanks, Mrs..." she broke off at Max's mother's shake of the head. "Mom," Liz amended. Diane beamed.

By this time, Phillip had crossed the Crashdown and was enfolding Max into bear hug. "Good to see you, Son."

"Good to see you, Dad."

For the next hour, the Crashdown was filled with voices as everyone caught up. By ten o'clock however, most of the adults had left for work, leaving only Jeff Parker working the grill. The six teens sat at their favorite booth near the back of the dining room. They were chatting amiably about inconsequential things, none of them wanting to focus on the odd feelings they'd all had about their return to Roswell.

In a hotel blocks away, Serena Carrington shoved all her belongings into her backpack.

"This is it, Rena," she said to her reflection in the mirror. "Moment of truth. Will you have enough guts to do this?" 

She and Liam had discussed contingency after contingency. Plans for Antar that included its wayward king, and plans that did not. They knew that Max Evans had a life he valued on Earth. They didn't want to force him to make a decision, but they had come to the troubling conclusion that they had no choice.

And so Serena stood in a small Roswell hotel room, giving herself a pep talk in a mirror.

"You can do it, Rena," she encouraged, smiling at her reflection. "He's just a man, your age. You can be the one to blow his world apart. He's not that scary. He's your king. You can do it. For Antar." And, she thought, she would do it because Liam was counting on her. Resolutely, she turned on her heel and left the hotel.

In a palace worlds away, Kivar cracked his knuckles and paced what he liked to refer to as his "War Room." A map of Antar took up one entire wall, and a huge conference table sat in the middle of the room. The lighting was focused on the map and the table, making the corners of the room shadowed. Five minutes earlier, Kivar had received information confirming that the Resistance had managed to send someone to Earth to retrieve the king.

"The king may be coming," he mused aloud. "But I'll be ready for him when he gets here."


	5. Moment of Truth

Title: King's Opening

Rating: PG-13/R

Category: M/L, M/M, Ky/I

Disclaimer: I don't own Roswell and I never have. Don't sue me, I'm just a poor college student, you wouldn't get anything anyway. I also did not write "Where Are You Going," it is by the Dave Matthews Band.

Summary: Part One of the Battlefield Antar series. The group is summoned to Antar after a year roaming the US in their battered VW van.

Chapter 5 - Moment of Truth

There was a carefree atmosphere in the Crashdown Café. The only customers there were Max, Liz, Kyle, Isabel, Michael, and Maria. Jeff had told them he'd expected it to be a slow day because there was a new restaurant even wackier than the Crashdown opening across town. When Liz had worriedly asked about the future of the Crashdown, Jeff had laughed and said the Café would do just fine.

The gang had taken advantage of the slow day, setting up Liz's old stereo and playing all their favorite CDs. "Where Are You Going," by the Dave Matthews Band was playing. Max and Liz were dancing. Kyle and Isabel sat a booth, talking in low tones. Michael sat on a stool by the counter, talking to Maria as she made six Alien Blasts.

"I can't believe you still remember how to make those things, Ria."

"Ahh, Michael," Maria said with a smile. "Once a Crash waitress, always a Crash waitress." She set a Blast in front of Michael. "Some things you just don't forget." She kissed his cheek, then came out from behind the counter to give Kyle and Isabel their Blasts, leaving Max and Liz's waiting for them on the counter.

"Here you go," she said to Kyle and Isabel.

"Thanks, Maria," they responded. She went to sit next to Michael, whose arm came around her shoulders as she sat down. Isabel watched them, then shifted her wistful gaze to her brother and Liz.

"You're thinking about Jesse."

Isabel started at the sound of Kyle's voice. "Yes," she said, even though Kyle hadn't really been asking.

"Are you going to tell him?"

Isabel's gaze flew to Kyle. "That we're leaving?" A pained look came into her eyes. "Oh, Kyle, I just don't know. I didn't let him be with us this past year because I wanted him to move on, I wanted him to not be touched by this."

"And if you contact him, it touches him."

"Yes."

"But if you don't tell him that you're leaving, you're afraid he won't be able to ever move on."

Isabel nodded miserably. "You know me so well, Kyle."

"I'm here for you, Izzy. Whenever you need me."

Isabel smiled wanly. "I know, Kyle. That means so much. I just want to make things right, so that Jesse can move on."

Kyle looked into Isabel's eyes. "And what about you, Izzy? You have to move on, too."

Isabel held his gaze for a few seconds, then looked away and said nothing.

Max reached up and tucked a strand of Liz's hair behind her ear as the last chorus of the DMB song floated out into the restaurant.

__

I am no superman

I have no answers for you

I am no hero; oh that's for sure

But I do know one thing

Where you are is where I belong

I do know where you go is where I want to be

"I don't have any answers, Liz. Just like the song says." He gazed at her mournfully. "I don't know when it will happen, or even exactly what it will be. But you, Liz, you're everything to me, so..."

Liz interrupted. "Max. We'll do what has to be done. If we have to go to Antar, we will. You wouldn't be the man I loved if you could turn your back on a planet full of suffering people you could save without being guilty about it for the rest of your life. And I won't put you through that."

Max touched his forehead to Liz's. "I don't deserve you."

Liz tilted her head up to kiss Max's lips. "Yes, you do. And you have me, until death do us part." She kissed him again. "And beyond." He smiled and began kissing her again as the song ended.

The song was the last on the CD, and Michael reached over and flipped the switch to turn the radio on. "Hey, earth to the most disgustingly romantic couple in the world, you're in public." Maria smacked him on the shoulder, but not before Max and Liz laughingly ended their kiss and broke apart.

They were still laughing when Serena Carrington entered the Crashdown. _Oh God,_ she thought. _Look how happy they are. How can I ruin this?_ But she knew she had to, so she straightened her shoulders and crossed to where Max and Liz stood.

Max had seen her enter and pause in the doorway out of the corner of his eye. He'd assumed she was just a customer, but then she'd squared her shoulders and began crossing straight to him and Liz. He took Liz's hand and stood slightly in front of her.

"Max?" she said enquiringly, then trailed off when she caught sight of Serena coming towards them. The atmosphere in the Crashdown immediately tensed as all eyes flew to the dark-haired, dark-eyed girl walking purposefully towards Max. She stopped in front of him. Six people held their breath.

"Max Evans?"

"Yes," Max said, nodding slightly. Liz squeezed his hand.

"My name is Serena Carrington. I've been sent to Earth to ask you to please return to Antar with me to lead your people against the usurper Kivar."

Six people let out their breaths on resigned sighs. Kyle reached over the table to take a pale Isabel's hand. She squeezed it gratefully.

Maria buried her head in Michael's shoulder. He pressed a kiss to her hair, bleakly looking out the window to the blue Roswell sky.

Max drew Liz against his side, her arm around his waist, his hand resting on the curve of her hip. He nodded, closing his eyes in resignation.

"How much time do we have?"

A/N - Thanks to those of you who have left the excellent feedback. I'm glad you're enjoying my story, because I'm really enjoying writing it. Please, please continue to tell me what you think about how things are going. Suggestions are welcome, although I may or may not use them J. Anyway, enjoy my story! ~~Liz


	6. Storytime

Title: King's Opening

Rating: PG-13/R

Category: M/L, M/M, Ky/I

Disclaimer: I don't own Roswell and I never have. Don't sue me, I'm just a poor college student, you wouldn't get anything anyway.

Summary: Part One of the Battlefield Antar series. The group is summoned to Antar after a year roaming the US in their battered VW van.

Chapter Six - Storytime

The group had left the dining room of the Crashdown in favor of the privacy of Liz's balcony. Max and Liz sat on her faded lawn chair. Michael sat against the wall next to the window, Maria sitting between his legs leaning against his chest. Kyle and Isabel sat on a porch swing, Isabel clutching Kyle's hand for strength. Serena stood against the wall across from Michael and Maria, where she could see everyone.

"Please, Serena, sit down," Max said gently.

"Sir?" Serena asked, taken aback.

"Please sit down, and please don't call me sir. There's no reason to be formal."

"But you're the king..." she began, feeling compelled to try one more time.

"Please," Max asked again, smiling.

"Okay, Your Highness," Serena said, tentatively sitting on the low balcony wall.

"If I won't let you call me sir, I certainly won't let you call me "your highness.'"

"But..." Serena was bewildered.

"I may be a king on Antar, but all my life I have been plain old Max Evans. I will continue to be Max Evans, no matter where I go, or what my job is. Besides, you are the same age as me, or you look it. So please, call me Max."

Serena nodded. "Okay, Max."

"Now, we would like to know how long we have before we have to leave for Antar and we would like to know what the situation there is. One must be prepared before one goes into battle."

Serena nodded again. "We need to leave as soon as possible, but I won't begrudge you the chance to say your goodbyes and make your explanations to your families."

"Excuse me for one second." All eyes turned to Kyle. "I hate to interrupt, but exactly how will we be getting to Antar?"

"My spaceship," Serena answered. "It's big enough. Of course I was only expecting at most three or four people to come back, so we'll have to pick up a bit more food before we leave."

Kyle nodded, looking slightly overwhelmed. "I've been on one plane ride in my entire life and now I'm riding a spaceship to another planet." He shook his head ruefully. "And I used to think I'd lead a boring life and never get out of Roswell."

Serena smiled slightly, seeing immediately that Kyle was the kind of guy who joked around to relieve tension. She knew how important it would be for the king to have people like that around him when the going got tough.

"We all know our lives are changing, but we wanna know how bad the hell we're going to is before we see it, so please continue your story, Serena," Michael said brusquely.

"Michael!" Maria exclaimed, turning to smack the side of his head lightly. "You're rude!" She turned to look apologetically to Serena. "I apologise for Spaceboy here's rudeness, but we really would like to know the situation on Antar."

Serena smiled. "That's all right. I understand that you're all under some stress right now. We all are. The situation on Antar is actually better than it has been in the past few years.

"Kivar had been making headway. Antar has two main continents and another that is approximately the size of your Australia. Kivar has had complete control of one of them, Kaima, since the beginning. It contains the capital city, Antarina. The Resistance has maintained control of the smallest, called Kallimos. At the beginning, the usurper and the Resistance had equal amounts of the other large continent under their control.

"When he received word that the deal he'd made with your protector was going to be fulfilled, he began taking gambles. Luck flew with him, and he pushed us to the coast. But his plans rested on the return of not just a royal heir and the Royal Four. He also needed the Granilith. And he needed them all. The lady Tess, however traitorous she was, was intelligent enough to take precautions. She hid the Granilith and told no one where it was."

Serena paused and looked at the people hanging on to her every word. She'd seen pain enter their eyes at the mention of Tess.

"I'm sorry about Tess, by the way. I had nothing to do with the cloning and the decisions made at the time, obviously, but my father did, and he asked me to convey his apologies for not choosing the right woman."

The gang, who had been nodding and smiling gratefully at Serena's apology, suddenly all looked very confused. Serena didn't notice, though, for she had begun her story again.

"So the lady Tess had hidden the Granilith," she said, persisting in the use of Tess' title despite her dislike of the 'lady' in question. "Once Kivar had rejected the baby as the royal heir, he had nothing. The lady Tess ran away, taking the baby with her. Days later it became apparent that she was dead. So he had no more access to anyone remotely royal. The Granilith was hidden, and Kivar's power was weakening. He was forced to retreat.

"The Resistance gained the upper hand, driving Kivar further back than the original front line. We now control three quarters of Kerina, that's the second large continent, as well as all of Kallimos. We still hold no ground on Kaima, although we do have a few well-positioned spies."

She took a deep breath, then continued. "As to the wars with the other planets, after Kivar's retreat, they all declared that they did not support Kivar as the king of Antar. They have all arranged a separate peace with each other, and with us. So in that regard you have nothing to worry about. And that's about it. I can tell you the names of the other Resistance leaders on the way to Antar."


	7. Questions and Answers

Title: King's Opening

Rating: PG-13/R

Category: M/L, M/M, Ky/I

Disclaimer: I don't own Roswell and I never have. Don't sue me, I'm just a poor college student, you wouldn't get anything anyway.

Summary: Part One of the Battlefield Antar series. The group is summoned to Antar after a year roaming the US in their battered VW van.

Chapter 7 - Questions and Answers

"Wow," Kyle said. "That's quite a story." He felt Isabel trembling, and let go of her hand in order to sling his arm over her shoulders. She gratefully leaned onto his shoulder.

Max noted his sister's distress and frowned over it. Liz squeezed his hand. "She'll be all right," she whispered.

Michael said nothing, merely clenched his jaw and contemplated being a general in a war over an entire planet.

"I'm sure you have some questions," Serena began. She was slightly puzzled when five pairs of eyes gazed at Liz expectantly.

"Yes," Liz said. "I believe we do. The first being about the Granilith. Do we have any clue as to where Tess might have hidden it?"

Serena shook her head sadly. "Not really. Except that it probably would have been on Kaima. Much as she didn't want Kivar to get it without holding up his end of the deal, she really didn't want the Resistance to get their hands on it."

"Okay," Liz said, nodding. "Makes sense. Second question - who was your father? You said he had a hand in the creation of the clones. Will we meet him?"

Again Serena shook her head sadly, a look of deep grief coming briefly into her eyes. "My father was Larek Deimara. And I'm sorry, you won't be able to meet him, he died a few months ago while on a mission to Kaima."

"Larek?" Max broke in. "The Larek who has contacted us before? The one who knew Zan when he was king?"

"Yes, that Larek," Serena affirmed, noting Max's referral to 'Zan' as opposed 'me.'

"I'm sorry for your loss, Serena," Liz said sympathetically.

"Thank you, Your...uh, Liz," responded Serena, remembering at the last moment that Max wanted everyone called by their names and not their titles. "Do you have anymore questions?"

"Yes, I believe we do. What did you mean when you said that your father was sorry for cloning the wrong girl?"

Serena's startled eyes flew to Max, then Michael and Isabel. "You don't remember?"

The three podsters shook their heads.

"Perhaps that's for the best. From what my father told me of the times before the Fall, I wouldn't want to remember either. I can give you details later if you wish, but the short answer is that Vilandra was not the only one in love with someone she was not betrothed to, although one could argue that Zan perhaps chose more wisely." Isabel flinched at the mention of Vilandra's betrayal. Kyle stroked her hair soothingly as Serena continued her story.

"Zan was in love with a young girl who worked in the palace. She was a lady-in-waiting for Princess Vilandra. She had noble blood, but she was the sixth daughter of a minor earl, and Zan's father deemed her too low for his son, betrothing Zan instead to the Lady Ava. Lady Ava was the only child of the Duke of Kaimeria, the largest province on Kaima, besides the area surrounding Antarina, of course."

Serena paused, looking pensively at Liz. "She looked a lot like you, Liz. I've seen pictures. Same hair, eyes, build. She was killed at Zan's side during the Fall. He wanted her to leave, to go to safety, but she wouldn't. Queen Ava joined Kivar when he stormed the palace, and killed Zan's love in front of Zan, just before he was killed by Kivar."

Serena lifted her eyes to Max's. "So perhaps it is just as well that you do not remember, for I see that it is painful just for you to hear it."

"Thank you for the telling, Serena," Max said sincerely.

Liz allowed a moment of silence before asking the next question. "The Granilith. Why is it so important?"

"It has immense power." Serena began to fiddle with the rings on her fingers. "The one who controls the Granilith can amplify their powers beyond belief. It was used to send the ship your pods were on to Earth without them being seen. They were able to cloak the ship so that Kivar's people couldn't detect them leaving the planet. With the Granilith, many things can be done that cannot be done under normal circumstance, even with the powers we have already."

"Like time travel," Liz muttered.

"What?" Serena asked, startled by Liz's comment, but also intrigued.

"Um, nothing. Nothing at all." But Liz was thinking of Future Max. She glanced curiously at Serena. She could hear Future Max's voice in her head, talking about a girl named Serena._ She'll be a friend of yours one day._ Liz smiled at Serena. "And my last question, how did you know that Tess had died?"

"When the clones were made, my father created a device of some kind that no one but he understood that could monitor whether you were alive or dead, and give a general location on Earth as to where we could find you."

Serena stood. "Are you sure you don't have anymore questions?"

Liz nodded. "Yes...no, wait. One more. What should we pack for Antar?"


	8. All That You Can't Leave Behind

Title: King's Opening

Rating: PG-13/R

Category: M/L, M/M, Ky/I

Disclaimer: I don't own Roswell and I never have. Don't sue me, I'm just a poor college student, you wouldn't get anything anyway. I also did not write "Walk On," it is by U2.

Summary: Part One of the Battlefield Antar series. The group is summoned to Antar after a year roaming the US in their battered VW van.

Chapter 8 - All That You Can't Leave Behind

Kyle grabbed his big old duffel bag from the top of a box of his things. When his dad had married and moved in with Amy, he'd packed up Kyle's things but never unpacked them. Kyle was going through the boxes looking for the things he wanted to take with him.

He'd already packed the week's worth of clothes Serena had said they would need for the journey to Antar. Upon arrival at the Resistance headquarters, they would all be given traditional Antarian clothing. Nevertheless, Kyle stuffed in his prized varsity letter jacket. He also grabbed his small Buddha statue and his books on Buddhism.

He crossed the room to a box filled with CDs and carefully selected his favorites. Then he added his personal CD player to the bag, though Isabel was teaching him how to listen with the aid of a CD player.

Finally, he grabbed a picture album from another box. Inside the album were pictures of his group of friends from the time he got shot to graduation. He noticed as he flipped through it that his father had added some pictures the Parkers must have taken before the group's flight from the ceremony.

Finished, he started down the stairs, chuckling as he heard Maria's attempts to explain to her rapidly freaking-out mother that they were leaving again.

"But Maria, baby, you just got here. You can't leave again. It's not fair!" Amy's voice rose in pitch with every word.

"Mom, Mom," Maria began, taking her mother's hands. "You read Liz's journal, right?" At Amy's nod, Maria continued. "So you know that Max, he's the king of this other planet. And he has to go back to this other planet and save it from the guy who killed him and took over in Max's last life."

"So Max can go alone, but you, you don't have to go!"

"No, Mom. Michael, he's going too. He was a general, Max's second-in-command. I have to go with Michael, Mom. You understand that, don't you?"

"Oh, Maria," Amy said, her tone expressing defeat. Jim crossed the room from the corner he'd been standing in to watch Maria deal with her mom and sat down next to Amy, pulling her into his arms.

"She'll be okay now, Maria. Don't worry."

"Thanks. I am sorry about how we just came and now we're leaving..."

Jim shook his head. "It's all right. I understand. This is big stuff you kids are dealing with."

Maria nodded. Kyle, who had avoided the theatrics by putting his duffel by the door, came in to the room and gave Maria a friendly hug.

"Good job," he whispered in her ear. She smiled at him. "Dad, we gotta get going...our ride leaves at midnight."

Amy and Jim rose from the couch and gave last hugs to their children. Amy and Maria both started crying. Even Jim and Kyle were teary-eyed.

"I'm gonna miss you, Son," Jim said shakily.

"I'll miss you too, Dad."

"I love you."

Kyle smiled. "Love you too, Dad."

With that, Kyle gently led a crying Maria out the door and they started walking back to the Crashdown.

Meanwhile, at the Evans house, Max, Isabel, and Michael were all making last-minute additions to their packed suitcases. Isabel's and Michael's things had both been moved into the Evan's house when they'd left.

Max was carefully packing all of his various Liz Parker memorabilia after packing his beloved leather jacket. Isabel carefully folded a shirt she'd kept that had belonged to Alex, then tucked one of his many guitar picks into her toiletries bag. Then she grabbed three framed pictures. One was of her parents, one was of the gang at one of their late-night Crashdown parties, and one was of her and Alex at prom. Michael had carefully packed his CD collection, then tucked in a few extra Snapples before adding his favorite picture of Maria.

When they were finished packing, they met the Evanses in their living room. They were sitting on the sofa, Diane brushing back tears, and Phillip with his jaw stoically set. The three aliens set down their bags and moved to sit across from the Evanses.

"Mom, Dad, you have been the best thing that's happened to us. To all of us," Max added, gesturing to include Michael in the us. "I don't know what we would have done, who we would have been without you. You took us in when we were confused kids wandering naked in the desert. We had our rough spots," he said, thinking of the time he'd lived with Michael and his parents' distress over Isabel's marriage. "But we always knew that you loved us."

Max reached beside him to take a crying Isabel's hand. "Now that we're leaving you for good, we want to say thank you for taking us in, and for being such wonderful parents."

All five people in the room stood. Isabel hugged her mother first. "I love you, Mom," she managed through her tears. "I love you, Daddy," she said as she hugged her father. Max hugged his parents and told them he loved him. Then Michael stood in front of them.

"Mrs. Evans, Mr. Evans...you've been parents to me almost as much as you were parents to Max and Isabel. You showed me that no matter what foster hell I was living in, there were still people out there who were real families. That gave me hope for myself, let me be open enough to make a go at it with Maria." He shrugged and scratched his eyebrow. "I owe you my life. Thank you, and I love you both."

Diane sniffled and gathered Michael in a bear hug. Phillip shook his hand and hugged him. With final forlorn goodbyes, the podsters hefted their bags and trudged out of the house. When they reached the corner, they turned towards the Crashdown, sending one last wistful glance to the Evans house.

As the rest of the group headed to the Crashdown, Liz and Serena sat in Liz's room, Serena watching and chatting with Liz as she packed.

"Okay, Liz, this is gonna sound weird, but how is it that you and Kyle are alien?"

Liz looked at Serena in surprise. "You can tell that we are?"

Serena nodded. "We can feel the presence of others like us. Can't you feel Max, Isabel, Michael, and Kyle?"

"Well, yeah, but I thought it was because of our connection."

Serena nodded. "Your powers of perception will probably strengthen once we reach Antar. Anyway, how is it that you and Kyle are alien? We only sent clones of the Royals and their protectors."

"Max healed us." Liz picked up her two favorite small photo albums. One was all pictures of either Max or herself and Max together, and the other was various group shots from the three years the secret had been out during high school. Then she sat down on her bed next to Serena.

"Four years ago I was working downstairs and two customers started fighting. One of them pulled a gun, and I was shot." Serena gasped softly, and Liz smiled slightly, continuing. "Max was there, and he risked everything to heal me. At the time, I didn't know he was alien, heck, I wasn't even that close to him. He was an acquaintance, a very good lab partner. But he'd been in love with me since third grade and so he healed me."

Liz smiled reminiscently. "Lord, but Isabel and Michael were pissed when he told me everything. Then I was forced to tell Maria, and then a few months later we had to tell my friend Alex." Liz frowned, and Serena felt bad, seeing the grief creeping into Liz's eyes.

"He's the one who was..."

"Killed," Liz interrupted. "Yes, Tess killed him. But that was over a year later. A few months after Alex found out, things were spiralling out of control. Nasedo was baiting the FBI, the FBI was too smart for him and got a hold of Max, and I had to let Sheriff Valenti in to the secret in order to rescue Max.

"Kyle followed us, and in the process led the biggest, baddest FBI agent of all the ones who were after us straight to us. There was a small gunfight, and when the smoke cleared, Kyle had been shot, just like me." Serena flinched.

"But Max healed him, too, didn't he?" she asked.

"Yes, Max healed him, too."

"And so you were changed by his healing?"

"That's the theory. And now I'm all packed." Liz got up from the bed. "Why don't you go down into the restaurant and wait for the others? I've got to talk to my parents one more time."

Serena nodded, and the girls went down the stairs. Serena went into the restaurant through the back doors, and Liz stayed in the back room, where her parents were sitting numbly on the couch. Liz pulled a chair over to them and sat down in front of them.

"I love you guys," she said softly. Her mother sniffled.

"Lizzy..." her father began shakily. He reached out to touch her cheek. "We love you, baby. I want to apologize for every bad thing I ever said about Max Evans. Seeing him with you now, knowing the whole story...I see that he is perfect for you and that he would give anything for you and for your safety. I know you're in good hands."

Liz smiled, feeling tears come to her eyes. "Thank you, Daddy."

Then Nancy pulled a book out from under the pillow next to her. "I know you told us to burn this Lizzy, but we...I couldn't do it. We've kept it safely hidden, but now we want you to have it back." Nancy paused to wipe tears from her eyes. "A woman should have her teenage journal. I know it means a lot to you. So here, take it with you to this Antar, and think of home."

Liz, tears streaming down her face, took the journal from her mother and got up to give both her parents hugs. Kissing their cheeks she said shakily, "I'll miss you guys a lot. Thank you for my journal." She sniffed. "I love you."

"We love you, too, Lizzy," said Jeff.

Liz nodded, turned, and resolutely wiping the tears from her eyes, walked into the restaurant. The rest of the gang was already there, sitting one last time at their favorite booth. When Liz came through the doors, Max got up and met her halfway, gathering her into his arms and kissing her forehead.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, Max. I'm okay."

They reached the others, who had stood when Max left the table.

"Are we ready to go?" Liz asked softly. The others nodded.

They were about to leave when Maria stopped them suddenly. "Guys, listen."

They stopped to listen, and heard U2's "Walk On" playing over the Crashdown's speakers. They stopped to listen, then walked solemnly out of the Crashdown and into the waiting night.

__

And love is not the easy thing

The only baggage you can bring…

And love is not the easy thing

The only baggage you can bring 

Is all that you can't leave behind

And if the darkness is to keep us apart

And if the daylight feels like it's a long way off

And if your glass heart should crack

And for a second you turn back

Oh no, be strong

Walk on, walk on

What you got they can't steal it

No they can't even feel it

Walk on, walk on,

Stay safe tonight

You're packing a suitcase for a place none of us has been

A place that has to be believed to be seen

You could have flown away

A singing bird in an open cage

Who will only fly, only fly for freedom

Walk on, walk on

What you've got they can't deny it

Can't sell it, can't buy it

Walk on, walk on

Stay safe tonight

And I know it aches

And your heart it breaks

And you can only take so much

Walk on, walk on

Home...hard to know what it is if you've never had one

Home...I can't say where it is but I know I'm going home

That's where the hurt is

I know it aches

And your heart it breaks

And you can only take so much

Walk on, walk on

Leave it behind

You've got to leave it behind

All that you fashion

All that you make

All that you build

All that you break

All that you measure 

All that you steal

All this you can leave behind

All that you reason

All that you sense...

"Walk On" by U2

A/N - I just bought the new U2 CD and I have been playing "Walk On" non-stop. It's a song that means a lot to me, and I felt it was perfect for this chapter, which by the way, was rather long. I know it was, but I just couldn't break it up, and I had to get all the goodbyes in! Please let me know what you think, I love feedback!


	9. Ships in the Night

Title: King's Opening

Rating: PG-13/R

Category: M/L, M/M, Ky/I

Disclaimer: I don't own Roswell and I never have. Don't sue me, I'm just a poor college student, you wouldn't get anything anyway.

Summary: Part One of the Battlefield Antar series. The group is summoned to Antar after a year roaming the US in their battered VW van.

Chapter 9 - Ships in the Night

The sun was beginning to set as Serena led Max, Liz, Michael, Maria, Isabel, and Kyle out of town. They had decided to walk to the place where Serena had hidden her ship, figuring that it would be harder for any FBI agents who passed through to figure out what had happened. There would be no abandoned car to mark the place where an alien ship had taken off.

As to the Volkswagen van they'd travelled in for the last year, Jim and Phillip were going to drive down to the Mexican border, one in the van, one in another car. Then they were going to drive home in the car. Max hoped that would be enough to put the FBI off their trail, not that it would matter once they were on Antar. He just didn't want the FBI bugging his family.

The gang had been walking in silence for about five minutes when Kyle spoke.

"About how far out of town is your, uh, our ship?"

"About an hour's walk," Serena answered, looking over her shoulder at Kyle. "We'll make it before it gets completely dark, don't worry."

"How are you holding up, Max?" Liz asked in an undertone.

"I'm holding up," Max responded quietly, dropping Liz's hand only to wrap his arm around her waist. "What about you? Are you okay?"

Liz smiled. "I'm with the man of my dreams, and I will be forever. I'm doing fine."

"You once told me you didn't want to give up your family..." Max said hesitantly.

"That was almost two years ago, Max. And all of us pretty much gave up our families when we ran away from graduation."

Max nodded sadly. "I'm sorry for that."

"Max, even if my life hadn't been in danger, I would have gone willingly. And look at Maria and Kyle. They had a choice, and they came. We're a unit, the six of us. We may have lost the families we grew up with, but we gained a new family." Liz stretched up to kiss Max's cheek. "Don't feel guilty, Max."

Max smiled. "I'll try."

As Max and Liz continued their soft conversation, others were also talking. Michael, Maria, and Serena were discussing the merits of classic television. Kyle and Isabel were talking about Jesse.

"You have to figure out a way to tell him, Izzy. I know you, and you won't be able to live with yourself if you don't give him closure...tell him to stop waiting for you."

"I know," Isabel acknowledged, her face eloquently expressing the pain she felt. "I just don't know how to do it. I mean, do I dreamwalk him, call him, should I have written him a letter..."

"Wait, wait," Kyle interrupted. "How do you propose to call him?"

"I still have my cell. I brought it in case something went wrong between the Crashdown and the ship."

"Paranoid much?" Kyle asked jokingly. "Sorry, bad time to joke," he said apologetically at Isabel's hard stare. "Look, Izzy, you know you have to tell him. You're down to the wire. Just search your heart and it will tell you what the right thing to do is. Buddha says..."

"Please, Kyle," Isabel broke in. "No Buddhist stuff, okay? Not in the mood."

"Sure, Iz. No problem."

Michael was on a roll defending his love of the show Bewitched, when suddenly Serena interrupted his ranting.

"Okay, ladies and gentlemen, we're here."

"Here?" Kyle repeated in disbelief. "I see no ship."

"Honestly, Kyle," Maria said condescendingly. "Do you think she would have just left it so that everyone and their brother the FBI agent could see it?"

Kyle said nothing as the rest of the gang chuckled quietly. Then his mouth dropped open in shock when the chuckling stopped because of the sight in front of them. Slowly materializing in the middle of the desert was a massive spaceship.

"Now there's something you don't see every day."

The group rolled their eyes at Kyle's understatement.

"Now then," Serena began, her tone businesslike. "I know you all must have brought along your cell phones just in case something happened between the Crashdown and here." She watched as six faces registered surprise and embarrassment. "I would ask that you please turn them off before entering the ship. Once we reach Antar, we'll probably be able to modify them for use there, and it won't even cost you anything."

Six people sheepishly smiled and pulled out their cell phones. As they turned them off, Serena pulled a small stone out of her pocket. She approached the ship and pushed the stone into the metal of the ship. As if by magic, a door appeared and a small staircase leading up to it was lowered to the desert floor.

Serena smiled at Max and adopted the accent of an upper crust British butler. "Your carriage awaits, my lord."

Max blinked, laughed, and slipped his hand into Liz's. He walked towards the ship. "Thank you, my lady," he said in as snooty an accent as he could muster as he passed Serena. She giggled, then gestured that everyone else board the ship. They did so in awe. She followed them in, then turned and somehow pulled the stone she'd put into the wall to open the door out of the wall to close it. The staircase disappeared and the wall appeared to have no door whatsoever.

"Come with me," Serena said happily. She was excited. She'd fulfilled her mission; the king was coming home. In a week's time she would be home with Liam, and in the meantime she had six very impressed people to show off her ship to. Serena loved to fly, and she loved gadgets. Her ship provided her with an outlet for both loves. It was a top-of-the-line spaceship, and she'd installed in it, with Liam's help, every new invention to come along.

The gang was surprised when they went through a doorway and essentially found themselves in an upscale living room.

"These are the living quarters," Serena was cheerfully explaining. "The kitchen's through there, and the dining room in past the kitchen. There's a game room through there, with all sorts of games." She gestured as she spoke, pointing at doorways and making expansive motions with her hands. Liz figured that if Serena had been from Earth, she would have Italian blood. 

Before Liz could share her musings with Max, Serena was leading them up a staircase in the back of the living room.

"These," she said proudly, "are the bedrooms. There are six in all, so I guess we'll have an extra one for now. If you'll just set your things down here in the hallway, I'll give you the rest of the grand tour and then you can come back and choose rooms and such."

The gang nodded, setting down their bags and following Serena back down the stairs. They exited the living quarters and Serena took them through the entire ship. She showed them everything, from the engine room to the bridge to sick bay. There was no crew on this flight, she informed them, but the ship could support a large crew if the pilot wished to have one. The ship could run without one, and Serena preferred it that way. She showed them gadget after gadget, and told them all sorts of useless bits of information about space travel. Finally she led them back to the living quarters.

"All right, I've a few things to do to prepare the ship for space travel, so you've got about an hour and a half until you'll want to be on the bridge to see us take off. It's a grand sight to see. You'll be all right unpacking on your own?"

Max smiled and answered for the group. "We'll be fine. Oh, Serena?" he added as she began to walk away.

She turned back to face Max.

"Which room would you like?"

Serena smiled. "Oh I don't care. I like them all."

"All right then. See you in an hour and a half."

A/N - As always, thanks for the feedback. J Some friends and I are going to one of my friends' river house, where there probably isn't a computer, so there'll probably be a few days between this post and my next. So that's why I worked really hard to come up with four whole chapters to post at once! Hope you liked them, please tell me what you think! (Did the goodbyes work? I was a bit concerned with them.) Anyway, thanks for reading my fic! ~~Liz


	10. Unpacking

Title: King's Opening

Rating: PG-13/R

Category: M/L, M/M, Ky/I

Disclaimer: I don't own Roswell and I never have. Don't sue me, I'm just a poor college student, you wouldn't get anything anyway.

Summary: Part One of the Battlefield Antar series. The group is summoned to Antar after a year roaming the US in their battered VW van.

Chapter 10 - Unpacking

The gang took less than ten minutes to decide who got what room. Each of the six rooms was approximately the same size, and each had a window. Max and Liz chose a room decorated in an ocean motif, with sky blue walls and accents of deep blue, sea green, and purple. Michael and Maria chose a room that was simply decorated, with ivory walls and blue accents. Kyle chose a very masculine room, all deep greens and blues, while Isabel settled on a room painted in quiet blues and lavenders. She thought it looked peaceful, and God knew she needed a bit of peace.

She was carefully arranging her pictures on the small dresser when Kyle knocked on her door. She crossed to the doorway and let him in.

"How you doing, Izzy?"

"Better. I think I'm ready to tell Jesse."

"Yeah?"

"Yes." Isabel hesitated, unsure if she would be crossing a line in making her next request. She decided that even if she was, she needed it. "Kyle, will you stay with me?"

Kyle's gaze flew sharply to Isabel's. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, will you stay with me while I dreamwalk Jesse?" She reached out and touched Kyle's hand. "You don't have to come into the dream with me, I just...I'd just like it if you were here with me when I come out of it."

Kyle looked steadily into Isabel's eyes for a few seconds before replying. "Okay," he said, nodding as if in her eyes he'd found answers to important questions. "Are you ready?"

Isabel nodded shakily.

Across the hall, Max and Liz were unpacking their few belongings. Liz let out a small sound of delight when Max pulled his leather jacket out of his bag.

"Oh, Max! I love that jacket!"

Max laughed. "Me too, honey. That's why I brought it. So I could wear it." Liz smiled, took it out of his hands, and wrapped herself up in it. She took a deep breath and sighed.

"When you were going to leave after junior year, before Maria and I figured out about Alex, I was trying to think of ways I could get this jacket away from your house." Liz smiled as Max came up to her and pulled her into his arms. "It was going to be my security blanket."

"I'm sorry, Liz. I know I've said it a million times already, but I...I can't help but feel that I can never make up for causing you so much pain."

Liz pulled back a little so she could look up into Max's face.

"I love you, Max Evans. I forgave you for everything a long time ago. Don't forget I pushed you to some of that."

"I should have been able to see through you, Liz," Max protested, brushing her cheek with his thumb.

"I wouldn't let you. I was doing what had to be done at the time. Think...if what happened hadn't happened, we wouldn't be here now, together, Mr and Mrs Evans."

Max smiled broadly. "And that, Mrs Evans, would be a terrible, horrible thing."

"Quite so," Liz responded. She let go of one of the jacket lapels to slide her palm up Max's chest and up to press it to his cheek. "It would be a tragedy."

"Mmm-hmm," Max murmured, turning to kiss Liz's hand. He grinned. "How fortunate you did what you did." Then he leaned in and pressed his lips to hers. She opened her mouth and his tongue slid in to duel sensuously with hers. The kiss was slow and sweet and long.

"Mmm," Liz murmured against Max's mouth. "I knew there was a reason I married you."

Max chuckled softly, then removed the jacket from around Liz's body. "Are you sure it wasn't because of this?" he asked, sliding his hands up her shirt to cup her breasts while deepening the kiss.

"I don't know," she said, breaking away moments later. She slid her hands under Max's shirt and peeled it over his head. "You are pretty buff. That might have been why." 

Max grinned rakishly. "Hey, we've got, like, an hour to kill. What do you say we christen this bed?"

Liz pressed her body as close to Max's as she could. "Sounds like a plan to me."

Michael and Maria had already christened theirs.

"Spaceboy, you never cease to amaze me."

Michael turned his head so he was looking at Maria instead of the ceiling. "How so?"

"Just now, you went through every kind of foreplay I love in..." she glanced at her watch. "Twenty-five minutes flat. And I still feel like it went on for hours."

Michael grinned devilishly. "Alien sex, baby. Accept no imitations."

Maria laughed. "I don't think I ever could, after you." She rolled over and rested her chin on his chest. "I love you, Michael. I always have, even when I was cruel and stupid and selfish...underneath it all, I loved you then, just like I love you now."

Michael smiled and reached up to stroke Maria's hair. "I know. And I love you, more than I did yesterday and less than I will tomorrow."

Maria blinked back tears. "Who are you and what have you done with my real Michael?" she asked jokingly.

"Real funny, Guerin," Michael said dryly, poking Maria's nose. He stared at her thoughtfully.

"What?"

"Twenty-five minutes, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Well then by my reckoning that means we could do it two more times and still have ten minutes left to unpack."

"Spaceboy, you're terrible," Maria said with a smile.

"I know," he responded, rolling them so that he was on top of her. "But you love me anyway."

In Boston, Massachusetts, Jesse Ramirez was having a dream. The weird part was that he knew he was dreaming. Suddenly he found himself in Paris, sitting in a café with a view of the Eiffel Tower. The sun was setting and the sky was a glorious shade of orange. Jesse looked around, puzzled. He thought perhaps he'd dreamed this scene before. But in that dream, Isabel had been sitting with him...

"Jesse."

At the sound of his name Jesse looked up to see Isabel standing behind the empty chair across the table from him.

"Isabel?"

"Yes, Jesse, it's Isabel."

Jesse stared at Isabel in wonder as she sat down across from him. Then realization hit.

"You're dreamwalking me, aren't you?"

Isabel nodded sadly.

"What's wrong?" Jesse asked, immediately noticing Isabel's distress. He reached over the table and grabbed her hand.

Isabel drew in a deep breath, let it out on a sigh. "I guess there's no easy way to say this, Jesse...but I'm...we're leaving, Jesse. We're leaving tonight."

"What do you mean?" Jesse squeezed Isabel's hand. "Honey, you already left Roswell."

"No, Jesse. We came back and now we're leaving for real. I mean leaving, leaving."

Jesse dropped Isabel's hand. "You're going to that planet, that Antar." A look of incredible sadness crept into Jesse's eyes, and Isabel almost wept for it.

"I'm sorry Jesse, I'm so sorry it couldn't have turned out better. I'm sorry I brought you in, I'm sorry I can't be who you need. So please, Jesse, please move on." She took his hand. "Please give yourself to someone who can be who and what you need. Let me go, as I've let you go. It's the only way you'll be able to live. Find someone who deserves you, and give her all your love. Promise me."

Jesse nodded numbly and then Isabel was gone and he was awake in his darkened apartment. He sat straight up in his bed, breathing fast and shallow. Then he realized he held something in his hand. He opened his palm and saw laying in it the rings he'd given back to Isabel the night she'd fled Roswell without him. A strangled sob escaped his throat as the details of his dream came back to him. He didn't move until well past dawn.

On a spaceship outside Roswell, New Mexico, Kyle Valenti held a weeping Isabel Evans in his arms.

"Shh, shh, Izzy. I'm here." He stroked her hair gently.

"Oh, God, Kyle, he hurt so bad. I hurt him so much. How could I do that to him? How?" Isabel cried through her sobs.

"Isabel," Kyle said firmly. "You did what you had to do. We've all hurt others and each other before for the sake of doing what had to be done. If we're lucky, those days are over now. You might have ended the cycle right there. Because now everyone important knows. There's no one left to hurt with the secret." He hugged Isabel tightly, then began to run his hand up and down her back comfortingly. "It'll be okay now, Izzy. I'm here, your brothers are here, and your sisters are here. You'll be okay. And so will Jesse. Don't worry about him anymore. You did what you could for him. It's in his hands now."

Isabel nodded; sniffling and wiping tears from her eyes.

"I'll be okay...I'll be fine. I'm good. I'm...oh my God, Kyle! I look like shit and we've got meet Serena in ten minutes!"

Kyle laughed. "Now there's my Izzy. Don't worry; just use your powers. I won't tell."

Isabel smiled and did just that. Just after she and Kyle exited her room and she'd shut the door, Max and Liz came out of their room, their clothes looking just a little rumpled.

"Have fun...unpacking?" Isabel asked blandly.

"Umm, yeah," Liz replied, blushing slightly. "Lots of fun...unpacking." Max said nothing, merely grinned hugely.

Then Michael and Maria came out in completely different clothes than they'd gone into their room in.

"Wow," Kyle said teasingly. "Looks like they had _too_ much fun...unpacking."

Isabel burst into laughter, Liz giggled, and Max snickered.

"What?" Maria asked.

"Oh nothing," Kyle replied. "Nothing at all."

"Shouldn't we be heading to the bridge?" Michael asked.

"Uh, yeah," Max said quickly. "So, uh, let's just get going."

With that, Max led two giggling females, one snickering male, and one very confused couple down the stairs and to the bridge.


	11. Blast-off

****

Title: King's Opening

****

Rating: PG-13/R

****

Category: M/L, M/M, Ky/I

****

Disclaimer: I don't own Roswell and I never have. Don't sue me, I'm just a poor college student, you wouldn't get anything anyway.

****

Summary: Part One of the Battlefield Antar series. The group is summoned to Antar after a year roaming the US in their battered VW van.

****

Chapter 11 - Blast-off

Serena was fiddling with her instruments when Max and the others walked into the bridge.

"Hey guys," she said casually, without looking up. She'd already become used to Max's not wanting to be called "Your Highness." She thought that it was because Max and his companions were all very unassuming and non-judgemental people. It was hard to not feel comfortable around them. She finished what she was doing and then turned around to smile at them.

"Hey Serena," Max replied. "How's it going? Is this flight on schedule?"

"Yep. We'll be heading out in about five minutes." She gestured to a row of seats along the back of the bridge, facing the large window. "If you'll all just sit down and strap yourselves in?"

The six of them sat in a row, first Michael, then Maria, Liz, Max, Isabel, and Kyle. They watched as Serena sat in the pilot's seat and began to buckle up.

"Well, I hope this ship's better than the last one we were in," Michael joked.

Isabel gave him a hard stare as Max fought down a chuckle.

"Hey guys," Serena called from in front of them. "If you could just reach under your seat, there's a radio there for each of you so you can talk with me and with each other through the loud bits of takeoff."

"Okay," they answered, and pulled the radios from under their seats.

"I feel like a telemarketer," commented Maria as she slipped the thin microphone/headset over her head, earning chuckles from her companions.

"Is everybody ready?" Serena called over the radio. Everyone responded affirmatively, and Serena began the takeoff process. The noise level was still quiet compared to the noise level of a jet taking off. Then the ship began to leave the ground at a fairly fast pace.

"Whoa," Maria managed.

"This is why I decided not to be a fighter pilot," Kyle declared through gritted teeth.

The ship was going higher and higher, faster and faster. The higher and faster they got, the louder the noise got.

"We'll be breaking out of Earth's gravity momentarily," Serena informed the group over the radio. "Then things will quiet down for awhile. Once we hit the entrance to the wormhole that we'll use to get to Antar, things will be loud again, but only until we get into it, at which point they'll quiet down again."

"Okay," Max said to acknowledge that Serena had been heard. Then the noise stopped. Suddenly it was very, very quiet. Serena watched carefully as the autopilot did its job, turning the ship in the direction of the wormhole they would use to reach Antar.

"Serena?"

"Yeah, Liz?" Serena answered, recognizing Liz's voice.

"I was just wondering...this wormhole that we're going to use to get to Antar. It must be fairly close, I mean you were speaking as if most of the trip takes place in the wormhole. But Earth's scientists know nothing of any wormhole in the near vicinity. How are we not seeing it?"

Serena laughed. "It really isn't close by. We're just going extremely fast. Look to your left. See how far away Earth is already?"

The gang looked to the left, and sure enough Earth appeared about golf ball size and was rapidly shrinking.

"Oh my God," Isabel said softly. _Goodbye_, she cried in her mind. She wasn't sure who, or what, she was saying goodbye to, only that she was saying goodbye.

Serena was silent as the gang sadly watched Earth disappear from view. Once Earth could no longer be seen, she continued her explanation.

"We are going faster than Earth scientists can imagine at this point. I believe an author wrote a book on your planet called "A Wrinkle in Time?" Well, we are essentially performing a tesseract, although not as Ms. L'Engle described it. We will reach the wormhole in about five minutes."

Liz nodded numbly, amazed at how much there was left to discover.

Five minutes later, the noise level began to escalate again.

"Wormholes...they're just connected black holes aren't they?" Maria asked.

"Yes, that's right," Serena answered.

"And black holes...they're just endless nothing?"

"Essentially."

"What if the black holes that make up our wormhole disconnect?"

"They won't," Serena said confidently.

Maria swallowed nervously, and Michael slung his arm over her shoulders. "It will be all right, Ria. I promise, you'll be fine."

"Okay, Michael."

And then, as quickly as it had started, the noise died down. Serena gave a satisfied smile and patted her "dashboard" proudly.

"This baby's never let me down." Serena unbuckled herself from the chair and stood up. "You can all get up and take off your radios now. We'll be going through the wormhole for about a week. It would take and insane amount of time to get from Antar to Earth and vice versa if it wasn't for this wormhole. At any rate, you're now free to roam the ship as you please. I only ask that you don't touch any of the instruments or gadgets that you don't know how to work." She smiled brightly. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to make use of the little girls' room." And she left the bridge, leaving six shaken people behind her.

They carefully got out of their seats and crossed the room to stand with their faces pressed to the window. They stared out into space in wonder.

"It really is like in _Contact_," Liz said quietly. "The way it looks inside a wormhole, I mean."

"It's beautiful," Isabel said quietly.

Michael stepped back from the window and tugged Maria with him and into his arms.

"You okay, babe?" he asked gently.

Maria smiled gratefully up at Michael. "I'm good. Thanks." She wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face in his shoulder.

Kyle tore his gaze from the vastness of space to look worriedly at Isabel's pale face. Then he reached out and touched her shoulder.

"Izzy."

She turned around at his touch and the sound of her name.

"Izzy, you need to go rest. You've had a long day."

She nodded and allowed Kyle to lead her away from the view and out of the bridge.

Max was not staring at space; instead, he stared at the amazed and enthralled face of his wife. She was, he thought, incredibly cute when the scientist in her completely took over. He could just see her taking mental pictures and filing them away in her well-ordered brain.

Liz finally realized that Max was staring at her and turned her face to look at him.

"What, Max?"

"You."

Liz smiled.

"I love you too, Max," she said happily, then yawned hugely. She covered it quickly, but Max saw the exhaustion in her eyes before she managed to hide it.

"I saw that," he began. "And I won't let it slide. To sleep with you, my love."

"But, Max..."

"No buts, Liz," he interrupted, then he picked her up and carried her like a man would carry his new bride over the threshold. "To bed, perchance to sleep."

Liz didn't manage to hold back a second yawn, and so she gave in. She settled her head in the place where Max's shoulder and neck met and let him carry her to bed.

"Night Maria, Michael," she said sleepily as she and Max passed the couple who was still standing in the same spot they had been since Michael had pulled Maria into his arms.


	12. The Right Thing to Say

****

Title: King's Opening

****

Rating: PG-13/R

****

Category: M/L, M/M, Ky/I

****

Disclaimer: I don't own Roswell and I never have. Don't sue me, I'm just a poor college student, you wouldn't get anything anyway.

****

Summary: Part One of the Battlefield Antar series. The group is summoned to Antar after a year roaming the US in their battered VW van.

****

Chapter 12 - The Right Thing to Say

Liz awoke in the warm circle of Max's arms. She snuggled closer to her husband, not wanting to admit that she'd woken up. Max's arms tightened around her briefly before he relaxed back into a doze.

Michael woke up long enough to register the fact that Maria was still asleep, her head pillowed on his chest. He glanced at his watch, saw that the time was 8:30 in the morning, and shut his eyes tightly. _Sleep_, he thought. _Sleep is good._

Serena slept on as well, peacefully dreaming of Liam and her imminent return home.

Isabel was already up, dressed, and pacing her room restlessly. It was the beginning of their fifth day travelling through the wormhole. Serena had given her some Antarian books to read, but Isabel didn't like having to translate in her head, despite the fact that the closer they came to Antar the easier it became. 

Somehow, the aliens' proximity to their home planet affected how much of the basic survival stuff, such as the Antarian language both written and spoken, that they remembered. They still couldn't really remember details of their past lives, however. Isabel was thankful for that.

But now it was 8:35 in the morning, no one else was up, and Isabel was going out of her mind. She needed someone to talk to. She was suddenly feeling all sorts of worries and doubts that she'd thought she'd got rid of. But who could she talk to at this hour of the morning? No one aboard the ship rose before 9:15 at the earliest, unless someone else woke them up.

She could wake up Max. He was her brother, and he wouldn't really mind waking up a mere 25 minutes early to ease his sister's troubled mind. But in waking Max up she'd wake up Liz as well. Liz wouldn't really mind either, but Isabel knew they both needed their sleep. In a matter of days they would be assuming the roles of king and queen of an entire planet. She decided to leave them alone.

Michael? Well, not only would waking up Michael wake up Maria as well, who was grumpy without all of her sleep, but Michael was a bear in the morning. He wouldn't be very happy if Isabel rushed in now with her problems. He'd be ready to listen and be comforting in a few hours, after waking up naturally and drinking some coffee. But Isabel didn't want to wait that long.

Serena? No, Isabel hadn't known her long enough.

Kyle? No...well, maybe so. Kyle wasn't as much of a morning person as Max, but then he wasn't as much of a bear as Michael. And he had promised to be there for Isabel. Isabel stopped pacing and gazed out the small window into space. The surface of the wormhole they were travelling through was translucent and beyond it was a beautiful view of space flying by at breakneck speed.

Isabel felt a pang of sadness, missing the desert she'd loved. She summoned up a mental picture of herself sitting in the New Mexico desert. What surprised her was that she imagined herself sitting with someone. And that someone was Kyle Valenti. That decided it. She needed to talk to someone, and Kyle was it.

Kyle awoke to a knocking on his door. He groaned and rolled over. Feeling blindly for his watch on the bedside table with one hand, he blearily rubbed the sleep out of his eyes with the other. Then he glanced at his watch. 8:43. Who would be knocking on his door at 8:43?

He climbed out of bed and reached for his jeans.

"Just a minute," he called to whoever was behind his door.

He snapped his jeans and decided whoever was knocking would just have to deal with the sight of his bare chest. It was 8:43 in the morning, for goodness sake. What did they expect?

He opened his door, only to find Isabel standing nervously in front of him. Kyle instantly woke up the rest of the way. He could see that something was wrong. Something had made Izzy nervous, or worried, and Kyle wanted to protect her from whatever it was. Very suddenly he realized that something bigger than friendly feelings was developing inside him for Isabel Evans, but he filed that bit of information away for later examination. Right now, he had more important things to deal with.

"Come in," he said quickly. Isabel nodded. She was glad he wouldn't expect her to say something quite yet, she wasn't sure she could. Kyle had a very nice chest. Alarmed at the direction her thoughts were taking, she reminded herself that Kyle was her friend. Her very good friend, but nothing else.

"What's wrong, Izzy?" Kyle asked gently after he'd led her to his bed and made her sit down. It was the only place to sit in the room, there weren't any chairs, so he figured the bed would have to do.

Isabel took a deep breath and let it out on a long sigh.

"I don't know, Kyle. It's just, the closer we get to Antar...the more the old worries I thought I'd got over return to haunt me."

"You mean about Kivar?" Kyle asked, instantly picking up on what Isabel meant.

"Yes. I mean, before I was on Earth and he was on Antar, and I had Jesse and I was happy. I knew what I wanted, so I had something to hold onto." Isabel wrung her hands, her fingers moving to fiddle with the rings that were no longer there.

"But now I'll be on Antar as well, and I'm not with Jesse anymore. I don't know what I want for myself on Antar. Hell, I don't even know what I could have for myself on Antar." Isabel pulled her legs up onto the bed to sit cross-legged in the center. Kyle turned so he still faced her as she continued. 

"Serena, she said that her father at least was sorry for putting in the wrong woman for Max, but she didn't say anything about how others felt about Max and Liz, or how anyone felt about Michael and I not being together."

"It will be all right, Izzy," Kyle said confidently.

"But how do you know?"

"Max is king. What he says goes. And if he says that you and Michael don't need to be married, then people will just have to accept that." Kyle smiled comfortingly and took Isabel's hand. "And if there are some who don't accept that, you'll just have to show them that you don't care. Because your heart is your heart and your soul is your soul."

Isabel smiled. "Alex said that to me after he died, when we were going to leave. He said that that was true no matter where you go."

Kyle smiled in return, not bothering to question how Isabel could have talked to Alex after he died. Connections between people could be strong, he knew. Especially when one of those people was an alien. 

"Well, Alex was a pretty smart guy, Isabel. I think he's right. You just remember that if anyone tries to control you, tell you who to be or who to be with. Your heart and soul are yours, no one can change that or control that. Not even Kivar."

Isabel looked sharply into Kyle's eyes.

"You're worried it will happen again, Isabel, I can see it in your eyes. But don't worry. You know what he's like this time around. And anyway, he's like, fifty years older now, right? What do you want with an old guy like that?"

Isabel snickered briefly, then sobered.

"How is it that you always know the right thing to say, Kyle?"

"It's a gift," he said blithely. Then he reached up to stroke Isabel's cheek once. "And it's you. I'll be here for you, Izzy. And if what you need is for me to say the right thing, then that's what I'll do." He reminded himself that he probably shouldn't be touching her cheek like that and dropped his hand back to the bed. "That's what friends are for, right?"

Isabel nodded and smiled, oddly disappointed by his last statement. She shook the feeling off, reminding herself that they were just friends after all, and that it was too soon after Jesse to even be thinking about being more than friends with another guy. Even if that guy was Kyle.

"All right, then, Princess," Kyle said, using the nickname he'd begun calling her by over the year in the Volkswagen. "How about some breakfast? We can get it started for everybody."

Isabel smiled again, brighter this time. "Sure thing. I am awfully hungry."

They walked out of Kyle's room and down the stairs. As they walked into the kitchen, Isabel touched Kyle's bare shoulder for a moment to gain his attention.

"Yeah, Izzy?"

"Thanks, Kyle."

"Anytime, Princess. Anytime."

A/N - Thanks for the continued feedback, it's nice to know that people are enjoying my writing. Keeps the ideas coming, knowing that I'm not just doing this for myself, lol. At any rate, if at some point you get impatient and wish to read other fanfic by me, check out my website, Roswellians Anonymous (www.geocities.com/dreamer_lizzy). Also, if you're a Dreamer or ship Sydney and Vaughn on ABC's Alias, check out my new clique, Crossed Stars (www.geocities.com/crossed_stars5).


	13. Development

****

Title: King's Opening

****

Rating: PG-13/R

****

Category: M/L, M/M, Ky/I

****

Disclaimer: I don't own Roswell and I never have. Don't sue me, I'm just a poor college student, you wouldn't get anything anyway.

****

Summary: Part One of the Battlefield Antar series. The group is summoned to Antar after a year roaming the US in their battered VW van.

Chapter 13 - Development

At 9:30, Max and Liz trudged down the stairs together in search of breakfast. Max wore jeans and a plain white undershirt, while Liz still wore her pajama pants and matching shirt. They were surprised to find a fully dressed Isabel and half-naked Kyle already in the kitchen eating bacon, eggs, and tobasco.

"Hey, guys," Liz said curiously.

"Morning, Liz. Morning, Max," Kyle and Isabel said together. Isabel giggled at their speaking at the same time, and Max and Liz exchanged surprised glances. Kyle and Isabel?

Max and Liz crossed to the other side of the small kitchen to retrieve their favorite breakfast food, waffles.

"Kyle and Isabel?" Max said disbelievingly under his breath.

Liz glanced back at the people in question, who were chatting idly and not paying any attention to Max and Liz.

"They probably don't even realize it yet," she said softly. Max nodded.

"They do say that married folk tend to see romance where it isn't," Max commented flippantly.

Liz laughed. "That's us, then. Poor delusional married folk." Max laughed and together they fixed themselves waffles loaded with whipped cream and tobasco.

Liz brewed herself a cup of tea, while Max chose to drink chocolate-tobasco milk.

"Better put a pot of coffee on for the bear," Liz commented. "I think I heard movement in their room when we came down."

Max snorted at the description of Michael's morning temperament, then set a pot of coffee to brewing on the counter.

Just as the coffee finished brewing, Michael stumbled into the kitchen, followed by a slightly more coherent Maria.

"Coffee," he grunted. Max pointed it out, holding in a grin.

"Morning guys," Maria began. "And I extend my daily apology for Michael's rudeness."

The four people sitting at the table laughed. Michael, who had already downed his first cup of coffee, sat down at the table with the others.

"Laughing at my caffeine addiction again, are you?"

"Quite so," Liz acknowledged with a grin.

"It's just too easy," Isabel added.

"Morning, gang," Serena called from the bottom of the stairs. "Hey Max, can you toss me a granola bar? I've got some work to do before we reach the end of the wormhole later tonight."

"Sure, Serena." Max reached into the basket in the middle of the table, pulled out a chocolate chip granola bar and tossed it to Serena.

"Thanks, Max!"

With that, Serena sailed out of the living quarters.

"So," Maria commented. "End of the wormhole tonight. That's a good thing."

"You never did quite believe the wormhole wouldn't suddenly turn into two black holes on us, did you, Ria?" Liz asked laughingly.

Maria coloured slightly and said nothing.

"I have a question to put up for general discussion," Kyle announced.

"Okay," Max said. "Shoot."

"Anyone else getting new powers like, every thirty minutes?"

Michael choked on his coffee. _Not fair,_ he thought. _Kyle's not even really an alien!_

"I'd say that every thirty minutes is an exaggeration," Max commented. "But it would be accurate to say that I have been getting new powers and my old ones have been strengthening." He turned to look at Michael, Isabel, and Liz. Each of them nodded in agreement.

"I can speak Antarian," Liz put in. "And read it, and write it. And now I can decide when to have future-predicting flash. I can also see our families back on Earth, plus I'm getting all the powers that were common among you three," she ended, gesturing to the three podsters.

Isabel glanced at Liz in surprise, then described the changes in her own powers.

"I don't need a picture to dreamwalk someone anymore. Like Liz, I can read, speak and write Antarian; though it's still like translating it to English as opposed to real fluency. My other powers are getting stronger too."

Michael nodded. "Let's just say I think blowing rocks up would be real easy now," he said flippantly, referring to the time when Tess had him practising focusing his powers by blowing up rocks.

Max nodded. "Actually, Liz and I were talking about this last night, and we came to the conclusion that it probably has to do with our proximity to Antar."

"That's what I figured," Isabel put in.

Kyle nodded. "Just wanted a second opinion. This alien powers stuff still blows my mind sometimes."

Maria looked around the table at her alien friends. "I feel so...unskilled," she commented jokingly.

"Well, I could stab you with the butcher knife and Max could heal you," Kyle said in a mock eager tone. "Then in about two and a half years, maybe sooner cuz we'd be on Antar, you'd develop some neato alien powers of your own!"

"I think not," Michael said gruffly before Maria could respond.

Maria smiled. "Cute, Kyle. Very cute."

"It's what I'm here for."

"Michael, Kyle," Max began. "How 'bout a nice game of cut throat pool?"

Kyle looked at Michael and shrugged. "I'm in."

"Me too," said Michael.

The three men walked companionably out of the kitchen, through the living room and into the game room.

"Oh sure," Maria said in mock exasperation. "Leave us to clean up the kitchen!"

"Don't worry, Ria, we'll make them clean up after dinner."

Isabel laughed. "Liz, you're evil."

"I know, Isabel. But it keeps Max on his toes." Liz got up and hauled Maria out of her seat. "You dry. I'll wash. Isabel will put away. We'll be done in no time."

"Aye, aye, Cap'n," Maria said with a mock salute. Liz and Isabel giggled, and then the girls began to clean up the breakfast dishes.


	14. That Destiny Crap

****

Title: King's Opening

****

Rating: PG-13/R

****

Category: M/L, M/M, Ky/I

****

Disclaimer: I don't own Roswell and I never have. Don't sue me, I'm just a poor college student, you wouldn't get anything anyway.

****

Summary: Part One of the Battlefield Antar series. The group is summoned to Antar after a year roaming the US in their battered VW van.

****

Chapter 14 - That Destiny Crap

Kivar sat in his war room, cloaked in shadows. His Head of Intelligence, Daimtos, stood nervously in a beam of light. He cleared his throat and gave his report.

"By our calculations, they should be exiting the wormhole sometime in the next twenty-four hours. We'll be sending out patrols to look for them, under the instruction to shoot to kill." He schooled his features to impassivity and waited for Kivar to realize the bad part of the report. He didn't have to wait long.

"Look for them?" Kivar asked, his tone deadly calm.

"Yes, sir."

"You don't know where they are? You don't have them on radar?"

"No, sir. We believe they must be using some kind of extremely sophisticated cloaking device."

"Cloaking device," Kivar repeated in the same deadly calm tone. Daimtos waited for the blow-up. Again, he didn't have to wait long.

"Dammit, Daimtos! I give you one bloody thing to do in this whole mess with the fucking king and what do you do? You fuck it up!" Kivar slammed his hands on the conference table and stood, then stalked over to Daimtos.

"I can't take the damn intelligence job from you because incompetent as you are proving to be you're the best damn intel guy I've got. But know this, if the king regains power, you won't have to worry about being tried as a traitor. I'll have already killed you." Kivar stalked away to stare broodingly at the map of Antar. "Dismissed."

Daimtos left the room without a word.

Meanwhile, Serena was making last-minute nav checks as the ship approached the end of the wormhole. She turned to the six people strapped into the seats behind her.

"We're almost there. It'll be just like going in, except backwards. Then you'll need to go pack, because we'll be reaching Antar in a matter of hours."

The gang nodded and Serena turned back to her instruments. She reached over to the new and very sophisticated cloaking device she and Liam had invented. It not only kept even the best radar Kivar had from detecting them, it made it so no one could see the ship either. It also allowed her to see through Kivar's Space Force's best cloaking devices. 

She flicked it up to full power. In the wormhole it only needed to run at half power, the high speed of the wormhole helping to cloak the ship.

Then the end of the wormhole came into view. Maria gasped. It looked like a black hole. From the distance they were at, it was just a pitch-black circle at the end of their colorful tunnel. Michael took her hand reassuringly.

"Look," he said. "Now you can see stars." Maria opened the eyes she'd closed in panic and sighed in relief. The closer they got to the end of the wormhole, the more they could see of the outside.

Suddenly they were out, and space flew by faster for a moment as they flew out of the wormhole like a pebble out of a slingshot. Then their speed returned to the rate it had been between Earth and the beginning of the wormhole.

Serena check her instruments and smiled happily.

"Textbook exit," she said proudly. "You guys can go pack now."

"Are you gonna pack, Serena?" Liz asked.

"No, it's my ship. Most of the stuff I had with me lives on the ship anyway." She glanced out the window. "Besides, I've got to steer us around most of Kivar's Space Force to get home safely."

"Oh," Liz said, nodding. "Space Force. Right."

When Max and Liz got back to their room, Liz flopped down on the bed.

"Space Force? _Space Force!_ Max, what have we gotten ourselves into? How do you plan a war involving a bloody Space Force?"

Max sat down on the bed and tenderly stroked Liz's hair. "We'll be all right, Liz. I'm sure there are people here who know how, the current Resistance leaders. Serena, that Liam person she keeps talking about without ever saying who he is. And we're smart, you and I." He smiled warmly. 

"We've Michael, who while impetuous at times is also fairly intelligent. And Kyle, also a fairly intelligent guy. Iz and Maria can help too." Max pulled Liz into a sitting position. "And you will make a wonderful Queen, so stop worrying about that."

Liz didn't bother to ask Max how he knew that that was what was really bothering her. She ran her hand through her hair, pushing it back from her forehead. She reached over to the bedside table and picked up an elastic band. She got up from the bed, putting her hair in a quick ponytail as she paced.

"Serena, she said that Larek knew he'd picked the wrong girl to send you...but she didn't say how the people felt." Liz stopped pacing and faced Max, who was still sitting on the bed. "What if they loved Ava? What if they hated the girl Zan loved and see me as her? What if-"

Max stood up and grabbed Liz's shoulders, cutting off her stream of worries. He gently kissed her forehead. Liz closed her eyes and concentrated on Max. Here, she thought, was comfort, was certainty. She loved Max, and he loved her.

"I'm the king, Liz, there's no disputing that. They will follow me. Tess already betrayed them, and they know it. Why would they begrudge me a different queen than her?"

Liz allowed herself a small smile and nodded her head slightly.

"I still worry, Max. We've sacrificed so much to be together, to come to this point, and I'd hate for something to ruin it now."

Max tucked a strand of hair that had fallen out of its ponytail behind Liz's ear.

"We're all worried. Michael and Isabel, they didn't follow their supposed destinies either. And Kyle, he's not even part of the equation like you and Maria are." 

Max smiled. "Even if he and Isabel do get together eventually, they aren't right now. The people won't know what to make of him."

"You're right, Max. I'm just...stressed."

Max pulled Liz into a comforting hug. "We all are, babe. We all are."

Meanwhile, Kyle was contemplating the very things Max had suggested to Liz that Kyle would be worried about. How was he going to explain himself and his close relationship to the Royal Four, counting Liz as the fourth? He wasn't sure, but with characteristic confidence, he figured he'd be okay.

Maria was slowly driving Michael insane, babbling about Michael and Isabel and destiny.

"So yeah, I never really worried about that destiny crap with you, I mean, you never seemed to be interested in Isabel and she never mindwarped you into being interested in her like Tess did to Max but now we're going to Antar where it all happened and, I mean, what if the people wanted you and Isabel, or Rath and Vilandra, or whoever the hell you were-"

"MARIA!" Michael burst out finally, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her gently. "Snap out of it, babe."

"Snapping," Maria said immediately, centering herself on the feel of Michael's hands on her shoulders.

"Do I look like I care what the damn Antarian people think about my relationship with you?"

Maria looked up into Michael's steely eyes. "Um, no."

"That would be because I don't. So you shouldn't either. If they'd really wanted us to follow their damned destinies they shouldn't have dumped us in the desert with a protector who ran off to LA the first chance he got and another who not only abandoned three of us but made deals with our enemies."

Maria nodded. "Good point. I'm calm now. Calm. Where's my cedar oil?"

Michael reached behind her into her duffel bag, which he'd packed along with his while she ranted and pulled out her cedar oil. He held it out to her and smiled.

"Thanks," she said succinctly.

Isabel wasn't really thinking about her so-called destiny, so much as she was thinking again about Kivar and perhaps eventually being forced to confront him. Then she remembered Kyle's words to her that morning. She smiled, reassured once again. 

Finished packing, she pulled out her Remy Zero CD and set it spinning. She'd listen to Perfect Memory and draw strength from memories of Alex. It didn't matter what other people said. She was who she was, and the gang was what they were. Max and Liz. Michael and Maria. Isabel. Kyle. A unit of six. No matter what people said, no matter what troubles they'd gone through to get to the point they were at. They were together, and that was all that mattered.

__

Remember how they always seemed to know

We had the forest for our eyes but the earth was in our clothes

And they spilled out from under stars

And these blankets and these robes of ours

They thought we'd fall

Not at all

So look back on these treasured days

We were young in a world that was so tired

Though it's not what we wanted before

Even the saints had to crawl from the floor

Summers when the money was gone you'd sing

All your little songs that meant everything to me

And I'll remember you

And the things that we used to do

And the things that we used to say

I'll remember you that way...


	15. Introductions

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Title: King's Opening

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Rating: PG-13/R

****

Category: M/L, M/M, Ky/I

****

Disclaimer: I don't own Roswell and I never have. Don't sue me, I'm just a poor college student, you wouldn't get anything anyway. 

****

Summary: Part One of the Battlefield Antar series. The group is summoned to Antar after a year roaming the US in their battered VW van.

****

Chapter 15 - Introductions

Serena stood in front of the door to the spaceship facing the six wayward royals. She thought of all of them as royals, despite the fact that Kyle had no official royal connection except his friendship with the other five. She took a deep breath and smiled broadly.

"In a few moments, you will step through these doors into the spacecraft hanger of the Resistance Compound here on Kallimos. We will be going straight to a conference room, where you'll need to meet and talk with the other Resistance leaders. 

"Two representatives from each continent make up the Council. Think of it in terms of your president's Cabinet."

Max nodded. "Okay."

"After the meeting, you will all be escorted to the Royal Chambers. They make up the whole of the bottom floor of the compound. The upside to that is you will be the safest if Kivar attacks with bombs. The downside is you are multiple stories underground."

Again, Max nodded. "That's fine. We understand that there are some necessary precautions to be taken."

"Okay, that's about it. Oh, I should warn you. There'll be a crowd out there. Just smile and wave."

Serena turned and began fiddling with the door as each member of the gang gave themselves last-minute pep talks.

__

Okay Evans, Max thought,_ time to prove you can do this. And you know you can._

I **am** queen material, I **am** queen material, Liz repeated to herself like a mantra. She reached out blindly for Max's hand. He took it gratefully. At least he had Liz.

__

This is it Guerin, Michael told himself. _The friggin' planet you've been after going to for most of your life. How you gonna handle it?_ He'd handle it well, he thought grimly. After all, he was a soldier. But he reached for Maria's hand, needing to draw strength from her presence.

Maria smiled grimly when she felt Michael grab her hand. _I always wondered what it'd be like to be a military wife. Guess I'm about to find out._

Kyle was concentrating on breathing deeply and evenly. _Jesus, Kyle, _he thought to himself. _It's just a bunch of people who don't know who the hell you are and may or may not care for your position in the hierarchy of things._ He grimaced. _Deep, cleansing breaths._

Isabel, though she appeared calm, was panicking inside. Bits and pieces of thoughts flew through her brain at lightning speed. _Princess. Vilandra. Royalty. Tess. Alex. Dead. Destiny. Mindwarps, dreamwalks. Jesse crying. Mom crying. A planet in need. Isabel. Alex. Jesse. Kivar. Isabel. Vilandra. Isabel. Kyle._

Kyle? Where did that come from? For a moment she didn't care, was only thankful it had stopped the whirling thoughts. Then she realized he'd slipped his hand into hers and was smiling down at her with a look that plainly told her everything would be fine.

She smiled back weakly and he let go of her hand. Then the door of the spaceship opened, and all seven of the ship's passengers were blinking in the bright lights.

Serena began to walk forward. Max and Liz followed hand in hand, then Michael and Maria, also holding hands. Kyle smiled at Isabel once again, and, placing a gently guiding hand at the small of her back, he led her out of the ship and down the stairs.

They plastered smiles on their faces, waved dazedly to a crowd of cheering Antarian Resistance fighters and their families. Max and Liz blindly followed Serena, Michael and Maria blindly followed Max and Liz. Isabel blindly allowed Kyle to lead her in the right direction. Kyle concentrated on smiling and waving and acting like the people he waved to knew who the hell he was. And the feel of Isabel's warm back beneath his palm as he led her down the path.

And then the blurry moments waving and smiling to a crowd of strangers were through, and they were walking quickly through a pristine white corridor. Serena led them to a door. She placed her hand on a black pad next to the door and the door opened, revealing what appeared to be an elevator.

"Private elevator to the conference room. Only way in and only way out. You'll all need to be handprinted for it."

The gang nodded numbly. Then the elevator stopped. The door opened. And Serena ran out shrieking.

"LIAM!!!!" She jumped into the waiting arms of a handsome young man about the gang's age. He was tall, with jet black hair and ocean blue eyes. He easily lifted Serena off her feet and spun her in a circle.

"Welcome home, Rena," he said before capturing her mouth in a possessive and passionate kiss.

Max nudged Liz with his elbow and whispered to a bemused Liz, "That answers the 'who's Liam' question, doesn't it?"

Liz nodded. "Quite so."

Max shifted his gaze from the kissing couple and scanned the room. There were four other people standing around a large table, three men and a woman. All of them appeared to be around Max's age. _God,_ Max thought, _don't we have anyone leading who remembers?_

"They may not remember Max, but I'm sure they know." Max looked into Liz's eyes, not surprised she'd read his carefully guarded expression so well. It was her, after all. "And you know. Don't worry, Max. We'll be fine."

Max couldn't help but grin. Liz was so strong. Hours earlier she'd been panicky, but now she was back to being the pillar of strength for the group.

Serena and Liam were still going at it, and Max wasn't inclined to stop them. Lord knew what he'd do if he were separated from Liz as long as Liam had been. But he was tired of standing in the elevator. So, still holding Liz's hand, he walked into the room. The rest of the gang followed, though Max hadn't said a word. They knew.

The four others in the room noted this with interest. Such connection was important, especially in wartime situations. They also noted that when the group stopped, they stood as a unit. Max and the girl he was with in the center. Behind Max, Michael stood, a blonde girl holding his hand comfortably. Behind Max's girl, Isabel and a young man they also didn't recognize stood together, the man's hand resting on the small of Isabel's back.

Then one of the young men standing around the table cleared his throat loudly. "Hey, Liam, Rena...we've got a briefing to run here. You can have reunion sex after, okay?" The other three leaders choked back laughter, and the gang's eyes widened.

Liam and Serena broke apart. "Ah, thanks for your permission, Tristan," said Liam thickly. But they made the few steps to the table.

"Shall we sit down, then?" Liam said pleasantly. 

Everyone in the room nodded, and they sat. 

"Right, then," Liam spoke again, obviously the spokesman of the Council. "I know that you don't know any of us, except Rena, and we don't know much beyond your names. Some of you we don't even know that," he added, eyeing Liz, Maria, and Kyle with interest. Especially Liz and Kyle, since he could tell they weren't plain old humans. "So how about some introductions? I'll start, and we'll go round the table.

"As you may have guessed from Rena's greeting, I'm Liam Carrington. Rena and I are married, in case you were wondering. We are the two representatives for Kallimos. We were elected about two years ago." He stopped, looked at the young man sitting next to him. "Tristan?"

"Hello. I'm Tristan," the man began. He had sandy brown hair and eyes a shade lighter than the brown crayon in a Crayola eight-pack. "I represent, with my esteemed associate and partner-in-crime Nikolai, Kaima. I was elected last year."

Max lifted his eyebrows. Partner-in-crime? Must be an inside joke. How many times in the last year had he, Michael, and Kyle referred to themselves just like that?

The young woman sitting next to Tristan smiled briefly and tucked a strand of her long blonde hair behind her hair before beginning her own introduction. "Hi," she began, both her green eyes and her voice friendly. "My name is Christiana. Two years ago I was elected to represent Kerina."

"And I'm Erik, Christiana's brother. I was elected to represent Kerina at the same time as she was."

That explained why his hair and eyes, even the way he carried himself was so similar to Christiana, Liz thought. Then she turned her attention to the last member of the Council. He had hair as black as midnight and ice blue eyes.

"I'm Nikolai. I represent Kaima, and I have for two years." He smiled reservedly. 

Isabel whispered to Kyle in a voice so low that no one else noticed. "He's like Iceman with black hair." Kyle grinned at the Top Gun reference. It was one of his favorite movies, a love he and Isabel shared, although she liked it for different reasons. Well, additional reasons. He liked it for the plot. She liked it for the plot and the volleyball scene.

Then Kyle realized it was his turn to talk. He put on his best goofy/endearing grin.

"Hey everyone. I'm Kyle Valenti, and I haven't been elected to anything, except that I was captain of the West Roswell High football team for two years."

The six council members gave him odd looks, but he knew his attempt at humor was worth any embarrassment when he heard Isabel's swiftly covered giggle. Then she introduced herself, despite the fact they knew her name already.

"I'm Isabel Ram-" she broke off before she said Jesse's last name. _You're not Isabel Ramirez anymore, Iz. Don't tell them you are._ "Evans. I'm Isabel Evans." She repeated her name just shy of forcefully. She wanted them to know that she wasn't Vilandra, would never and could never be. Max smiled reassuringly. They knew. Or if they didn't, he'd shortly set them straight.

But Liz sat next to Isabel and not only she but three others still needed to introduce themselves.

"Hello," Liz said brightly. "My name's Liz Evans. I'm Max's wife, in case you were wondering." The Council members smiled at Liz's echo of Liam's earlier words.

"Max Evans." Max said simply, with a small smile.

"Michael Guerin." Michael also said nothing else. He figured by not describing himself further, as Max and Isabel had done, he emphasized that they weren't like the royalty they'd been in another life. They were just three young adults from Roswell, New Mexico thrust into a situation beyond their control.

"Hey," Maria said in her best perky-Maria voice. "I'm Maria Guerin, Michael's wife, and the only human in the room. Which is slightly awkward, but what a story it'll be for the grandkids."

Serena, Liz, and Isabel couldn't cover their giggles; neither could Max, Michael, or Kyle hide their wide grins. Maria beamed at five very confused Council members. Liam cleared his throat meaningfully. Serena and the gang sobered instantly.

"I think perhaps one of the six of you should tell us about your life in Roswell."

A/N - Whew. Long chapter. Hope you liked it. Keep that great feedback coming! :-) ~~Liz


	16. Our Life in Roswell

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Title: King's Opening

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Rating: PG-13/R

****

Category: M/L, M/M, Ky/I

****

Disclaimer: I don't own Roswell and I never have. Don't sue me, I'm just a poor college student, you wouldn't get anything anyway. 

****

Summary: Part One of the Battlefield Antar series. The group is summoned to Antar after a year roaming the US in their battered VW van.

****

Chapter 16 - Our Life in Roswell

Max, Michael, and Isabel exchanged glances, silently deciding who should be the one to begin the story. The humans of the group understood that their role in the telling wouldn't come until later. Max cleared his throat and began.

"We don't remember anything from before we broke out of the pods. Michael, Isabel, and I all broke out at the same time. We sat in the cave for a while, I don't know how long...there was this other pod, but we didn't want to wait. We forgot about it after a while.

"Anyway, we left the pod chamber and didn't look back. At first the three of us wandered together, but then we heard a noise. Michael freaked out. He backed away from us. I held my out to him, but...he ran away. Isabel and I went toward the noise. It turned out to be a car. The people in it were Phillip and Diane Evans. They brought us to their house, cleaned us up, gave us names. We caught on to English quickly. Soon they'd adopted us, then within a couple of years caught us up to third grade level educations and enrolled us in Roswell Elementary. That was when we met Michael again."

At this point Michael broke in to tell his part of the story. "I don't really know why I ran away from them. For some reason, I was too scared to be found at that point. I needed more time in the desert. A day or so later, someone found me and bundled me off to a foster home.

"The first family I lived with was nice. They cleaned me up, gave me a nice room to sleep in. I picked up English and most of what I knew in third grade from them. But they were just temporary foster parents, they never kept kids for long. That wasn't their job. I bounced around for a while, then this white-trash drunk named Hank took me in."

Michael's voice faltered a little as he recalled the bad days with Hank. Maria's hand slipped into his and he continued.

"Hank sent me to school at Roswell Elementary, yelled a lot, knocked me around occasionally. Kept me around just for the monthly check. In the middle of tenth grade, Max's dad helped me get emancipated minor status, so I got my own apartment and a job, supported myself. Hank disappeared shortly after that."

Liz broke in to continue the story from the shooting.

"A few months before Michael got emancipated, about a month in to tenth grade, that was when Maria and I found out about Max, Michael, and Isabel.

"Maria and I worked as waitresses after school and on weekends at my father's restaurant, The Crashdown Café." The Council members raised their eyebrows at the name. Liz smiled warmly.

"Yeah. Everything in Roswell's crash or alien-themed. At any rate, Maria and I worked there. We had since freshman year. That day, we had some interesting customers. Max and Michael were there, sitting in their usual booth and being quiet, also as usual. I also had some crazy UFO-freak tourists in my section. I was gunning for a big tip, showed them a fake crash photo.

"Maria, she had a bad section that day. Pam Troy, the biggest bitch in school, and two big, burly, mean guys who were on their third pot of coffee." Max smiled at Liz's ability to take on of the most traumatising days of her life and turn it into a story she could tell so easily. But he knew that the next part would be hard, so he took her hand. She smiled slightly and continued.

"I was heading back to the kitchen when suddenly the two guys started shouting about money and stood up, knocking over their chairs. One of them pulled a gun, people screamed. Maria shouted my name, but I was glued to the floor, staring at that gun. Then it went off. The next thing I knew I was lying on the floor bleeding to death." Liz took a deep breath.

"The darkness was coming to take me, I couldn't fight it. So I closed my eyes. Then there was this voice calling me back. It was Max, telling me I had to look at him. He'd ripped open my uniform, had his hand on my stomach. When I opened my eyes...it was like nothing I'd ever felt before. There was this warmth bleeding into the cold, a light in the darkness. Then Max had to run away, and all I knew was that I wasn't dying anymore and that Max wanted me to say I'd spilled ketchup on myself.

"So I did. At first, I didn't even tell Maria. Eventually I got Max to tell me the truth about himself, Izzy, and Michael. By then, Maria was really pissed at me. She threatened to go to the local sheriff and tell him everything she knew."

"Of course, at the time all I knew was that Liz had been shot and Max had done something to her that made it so she wasn't anymore. But it would have been enough to get Max in serious trouble," Maria broke in. Liz nodded.

"Right. And I couldn't let that happen. So I told her. The sheriff was on Max's back anyway, he'd pieced together some stuff to make him suspect Max without Maria saying anything. Max, Michael, and Isabel were going to leave, but I convinced them to stay.

"I had a plan to get the sheriff off Max's back. We all worked together, took advantage of Kyle here, who I was going out with at the time and who didn't know a thing. It worked for a while, and that was what brought us together for the first time. That was the first of many times we worked together to save each others asses."

Isabel took over.

"Later that year, Max and Liz go into a car accident. Max was unconscious, he was taken to the hospital. They took blood samples. We were panicked. Max was all right, but the hospital had his blood. We knew that there were people suspicious of us. We knew we had to get his blood out of there.

"But if we just stole it, they'd draw more. So we had to find a replacement. Liz and Maria couldn't do it since they're girls. That left Liz and Maria's best friend, Alex Whitman." His name came out weakly, her voice threatening to break on it. But she pulled herself together and went on.

"Liz convinced him to give us some of his blood without telling him why. But it caused a huge rift in their relationship. Soon, we brought Alex in to the secret."

"My dad was hot on their trail, though, and so was the Special Unit of the FBI," Kyle broke in to continue. "By now, Tess had appeared on the scene. Max and Liz had been seeing each other for awhile, and she threw a monkey wrench in that. I wasn't even hanging out with them, and even I could see the pain that both Max and Liz were in. At any rate, the FBI got a hold of Max through some bumbling by Nasedo. To rescue him, they let my dad in."

"I was an idiot and followed them, led the director of the Special Unit right to them. There was a firefight and I got shot. Max healed me. So I was in."

Maria picked up the thread of the story, leaving the six Council members amazed at how easily the six people in front of them worked together, how naturally they picked up where another would leave off.

"The pod squad, as we affectionately referred to them, got that holographic mom-o-gram thing, which tore all of our fledgling romances apart at the seams. We were all pretty crushed, except maybe Tess, who was probably inwardly gleeful that she'd been proven right. Life was pretty normal in Roswell for a while...or at least as normal as Roswell can get.

"Then Max here decided to get all noble and came back from fourteen years in the future just as this Max and this Liz were about to really get back together. So that ruined things for a while. 

"The skins came into our lives, shook things up for all involved parties. Told Isabel in no uncertain terms what a deceitful bitch Vilandra was, although they were happy about it cuz they figured she'd help them. She didn't. Some Michael-worshipping Skin named Courtney helped us get rid of the rest of the Skins, while disrupting mine and Michael's already bumpy relationship."

"At Christmas I healed a bunch of children with cancer. We covered it well, we thought, though later it would bite me in the butt," Max commented dryly.

Then Tess killed Alex. The thought hung unspoken between the six storytellers. No one wanted to say it. The six Council members watched the internal debate just showing in the eyes of the royals and their friends. Then Max spoke and broke the silence.

"You all know about Tess' betrayal. For the next year I was obsessed with finding my son. It strained my relationship with Liz. I made contact with our second protector, ruined his life, and went home. Liz started to get powers, and left for boarding school. While she was gone, I died."

Shock registered on all six of the Council members' faces.

"It's complicated," Max continued, "So I won't go in to it. Suffice it to say that I came back to life, and managed to get kingship back from Michael before he did too much damage."

"I had been married to a man named Jesse Ramirez for a few months," Isabel broke in. "When Max died, I also got shot. Max was dead at the time, so he couldn't heal me. Jesse found out about our secret. He got an old friend of his, a doctor who'd had his license taken away for writing bogus prescriptions, to take care of me. I got better, my marriage got worse."

Isabel sighed. "Then, just as Jesse and I began to make some progress...Tess came back with Max's son and set the FBI and the military on our tails all over again."

"I gave my son up for adoption when Tess told me he was completely human." Max's voice was carefully controlled, hiding the pain and guilt behind his eyes.

"I began to get visions of the future," Liz continued. "I got a vision of Michael, Isabel, Max, and I getting killed. We thought it was going to be at the UFO Convention, and prepared for that. But it ended up being at graduation, so we had to run away.

"And that's the end. Our life in Roswell." Liz smiled. "We headed out on the open road in a Volkswagen van Jesse'd found for us. Isabel made Jesse stay behind. Eventually he moved to Boston. We never saw him again. Kyle and Maria chose to come with us despite the fact that their lives weren't in danger. And now here we are, sitting in front of you, and now Max has something to explain."

A/N - Okay, I know we all know all that, but my point in writing it all out was to emphasize the unity of the gang to the Council. Hope you all didn't mind reading it! ~~Liz


	17. Setting the Record Straight

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Title: King's Opening

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Rating: PG-13/R

****

Category: M/L, M/M, Ky/I

****

Disclaimer: I don't own Roswell and I never have. Don't sue me, I'm just a poor college student, you wouldn't get anything anyway. 

****

Summary: Part One of the Battlefield Antar series. The group is summoned to Antar after a year roaming the US in their battered VW van.

****

Chapter 17 - Setting the Record Straight

The Council looked expectantly at Max after Liz announced that he had something to explain.

__

Nice segue, he thought caustically. Then he shrugged it off and looked each Council member steadily in the eye.

"I am not Zan. The man sitting next to me is not Rath. The woman sitting next to my wife is not Vilandra." He allowed his voice to contain hints of the iron will hiding beneath his normally quiet and placid exterior. He faced the raised eyebrows unflinchingly.

"We never have been. As long as we can remember, as far back as we want to remember, we have always been Max Evans, Michael Guerin, and Isabel Evans. For years, we lived our own lives, unaware of any grand destiny set forth by people we'd never met." Max allowed himself to glance lovingly at Liz, affectionately at Maria and Kyle.

"We had loves, friendships, that had nothing to do with Antar. We live with the guilt that who we are killed one of our friends. I live with the guilt that my gullibility where Tess was concerned caused my wife immeasurable pain and brought a child into the world who will never know his birth parents.

"Our lives on Earth made us who we are today, not our alien-DNA donors past lives here on Antar. So don't get us confused with them. We accept our obligation to be the leaders of this planet. We will be your Royal Family. But only if you let us be just that. All of us. There is no more Royal Four. We are the Royal Six."

Max allowed that to sink in before continuing. "We have accepted that we had to leave Earth for good. We've said our goodbyes, buried our ghosts. We will accept Antar as our new home. As long as we're together. Don't make us what we aren't."

Again Max allowed silence to descend over the meeting. He sat back in his chair to indicate that he was finished. Serena blinked at the force behind Max's words, the determined glint that came into his eyes as he spoke and that was reflected in the eyes of his friends. Liam cleared his throat as he had done before the Royal Six had begun their story.

"That's uh, quite a story. And quite an admonition. You've certainly set the record straight on who you and your friends are, Your Highness." Liam was in a mild state of shock. He knew what his father-in-law and Max's own mother's plan had been. It wasn't supposed to have happened that way. He allowed cool formality to create a wall in defense against his shock.

Max appeared to be about to speak, but Liz touched his shoulder softly.

"Please, Liam," she said gently. "Don't be offended. We know we aren't what you all expected. You expected three royals and got six. Six people who weren't properly prepared to fill the roles we have to fill. Six people who went through huge identity crises in the past four years. Six strong, stubborn people. We're sorry if we are a bit overwhelming." Liz glanced at Max.

"And Max is sorry if he came off a little too cold just now. But we just want to make it clear that you cannot judge any of us by the past. Live in the present, and be confident that history will not repeat itself."

"Are you sure you know what you're up against?" Christiana looked worriedly at Liz.

"We've had practice. Trust me, Earth has some pretty big baddies. We've even had a run-in with Kivar himself, and came out of it relatively unscathed."

Christiana nodded, immediately trusting Liz's openness and frank responses.

Liam took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry I snapped at you, Your Highness. We're all a little on edge, I suppose."

"Please," said Max, the iron gone from his voice and the affable Max back in place. "Don't call me Your Highness. I wouldn't let Serena do it, I won't let any of you. If we're going to work together, we have to be friends, we have to trust each other. I'd like to be on a first-name basis with all of you."

The Council members glanced at each other in surprise. Even Serena was slightly taken aback, she'd expected him to allow formality once on Antar.

"It's hard to say no to a request like that, Max," Tristan said. Max smiled at him gratefully.

"In light of your story and your description of who you are," Erik began, his green eyes serious, "I cannot welcome you home." He paused a moment, enjoying the raised eyebrows and all eyes on him. Then his eyes danced and flashed merrily as he smiled broadly. "I will welcome you instead to Antar. May it someday become the home of your heart."

Liz, Maria, and especially Isabel teared up at Erik's welcome. _The home of my heart,_ Isabel thought. She wasn't sure if Antar could be that, but she'd sure as hell try to make it so.

The cool and contained Nikolai smiled at them. Isabel barely managed to keep her chin from hitting the polished surface of the conference table. _And the ice melts,_ she thought dazedly.

"Welcome to Antar," he said quietly, calmly. "I think I can speak for the Council when I say that we are fortunate to have you here, and not your predecessors." He glanced at each of them in turn, his gaze lingering on Isabel a moment longer than it had on anyone else. "You appear to be an improvement," he said seriously, his gaze still holding Isabel's.

Isabel felt her eyes widen, but she couldn't stop them. She desperately tried to find the Ice Queen Isabel inside her to cover being flustered, but she'd buried her long ago.

Then Liam started speaking, breaking the odd moment.

"I know you all must be tired. It was obviously hard for you to tell us about your lives in Roswell." He smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry for it, but we needed to know." His smile brightened. "Now, though, you can get some much-needed sleep. Your things have already been taken to your rooms. If you don't like the room we've put your stuff in, you can always switch in the morning."

Serena stood up then, as did Christiana.

"Christiana and I will take you to your quarters." She smiled. "If you'll all follow us?"

The "Royal Six" got up from their seats and shuffled out of the room in Serena and Christiana's wake. Max nodded to each Councilman on his way out.

The door closed behind them, and Liam turned to his friends.

"Well, boys? What do you think?" He rested his elbows on the table, his chin in his hands. "We got ourselves some winners?" he asked hopefully.

Tristan, Nikolai, and Erik exchanged loaded glances, holding wordless conferences in a split second.

"Could be, Liam." Erik said quietly.

"Could be."


	18. His People

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Title: King's Opening

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Rating: PG-13/R

****

Category: M/L, M/M, Ky/I

****

Disclaimer: I don't own Roswell and I never have. Don't sue me, I'm just a poor college student, you wouldn't get anything anyway. 

****

Summary: Part One of the Battlefield Antar series. The group is summoned to Antar after a year roaming the US in their battered VW van.

****

Chapter 18 - His People

Max concentrated on taking deep, even breaths. In ten short minutes he would giving his first speech as king of Antar. Everyone who lived in the Resistance Compound, as well as anyone on Kallimos who could easily get to the compound was to be there. But Max wasn't nervous. No, he was petrified.

Thousands of people would be listening to him talk, evaluating his every word, his every gesture, his posture, the tone of his voice. He wasn't worried about forgetting what to say; he and Liz had carefully crafted the speech so it would flow naturally, and he'd figured out a nifty little alien memory trick. He was worried the people wouldn't like what they heard.

The Council's initial reaction to the hard-edged version of the first part of Max's speech had been shock, hurt. They'd quickly come around, but Max knew that dealing with the general public was different than dealing with people who were supposed to be your most trusted advisors.

Max determinedly shoved the doubts to the back of his mind. He looked across the stage to the other side of backstage and caught a glance of Liz's shining smile. He couldn't quite tell who she was talking to, but judging from the dark hair it was either Nikolai or Liam.

Then Serena was at Max's side.

"Five minutes, Max."

Max nodded. He was ready. He was so ready. At least, he thought so. And then, five minutes had passed and Serena brushed past him and strode to the podium in the center of the stage.

"Welcome. We are about ready to begin. As you all know, I have recently returned from the planet Earth, bringing with me the king and the rest of the Royals." She glanced towards Max waiting silently in the wings. "They're a bit different than we expected, but I think you'll find that they are an improvement. And so, without further adieu, here he is."

Serena stepped graciously away from the podium, taking a seat behind it with the other Council members, who had filed in as she spoke. Max took one last deep breath and walked confidently from the wings to the podium.

The cheering and clapping was overwhelming. He smiled, waved. Still they cheered. He let his smile broaden, nodding in acknowledgement. Still they cheered. Finally, Max calmly spoke into the microphone. Sophisticated as it was, it still looked pretty much like the ones they had on Earth.

"Thank you." Some of the cheering died. "Thank you," and a smile. The crowd quieted. 

"I join Serena in welcoming you here today. It gives me a chance to introduce myself and my family to you, and to tell you my story.

"I grew up on Earth as a normal boy. I had no idea that Antar even existed, or that I was destined to be king. All I knew was that my sister, my best friend, and I were different from everyone else. By the time we found out, all of us had formed connections with other people we couldn't bear to break. We'd fallen in love, or formed unbreakable friendships.

"In a world where we thought we could trust no one, we'd found people to trust. And so it is that we come to you today not the Royal Four as you expected. We are the Royal Six, if you will." Max paused, glanced at Liz. She nodded. All was going well.

"I am Max. I am not Zan. But I am your king, and I promise to serve you well, along with my family from Earth. My wife, and your queen, Liz." Liz walked out from behind the curtain, came to stand beside Max.

"Michael, my second-in-command, and his wife, Maria." Michael came to stand to the right and slightly behind Max. Maria stood beside Michael.

"Isabel, my sister." Isabel stood to the right and slightly behind Liz.

"And Kyle, my trusted advisor and friend. Surrogate brother, if you will." Kyle strode out onto the stage and stood next to Isabel.

It made a striking picture, the sight of Antar's new royal "family" standing shoulder to shoulder, united. It was the picture, and Max's next words that won the people over.

"Earth will always be our first home. But, despite the fact that we have only been here two days, Antar is already becoming the home of our hearts. We hope that you can accept us into your hearts as well."

Max's words were met with cheers and clapping. It seemed to almost be louder than it had been when he first stepped onto the stage, if that was even possible. He glanced at Liz and Michael, nodded. They turned and led the rest of the royals to their seats on the stage. Max returned his gaze to the people before him.

"We are facing a great challenge. I won't lie and tell you that the fight ahead will be easy. Kivar has the upper hand. He's already beaten us once. Psychologically, he thinks he'll be able to do it again. He feels invincible.

"But this time, we won't be as easily beaten. This time, we know his true colours as we didn't last time." Unspoken, the name Vilandra echoed in the people's heads, along with the word betrayed. No one blamed Vilandra, Kivar had betrayed her as well, and she had been young and in love.

"This time, we will win. I will be the king of Antar once again. The Royal Family will live in the palace again, with flags proudly flying, instead of in a carefully camouflaged hole in the ground. Kivar will not win." Max paused slightly, allowing the last sentence to sink in.

"But the palace is a long way off. We must concentrate on short-term goals, but at the same time, never forget that image of the Antarian flag flying freely over the palace. Our short-term goal is this: gain ground on Kerina. We are on the brink of capturing the most strategic point on the continent. My advisors and I are devising plans to take a moral and strategic victory on Kerina, and soon.

"From what I have seen and been told, you are a strong people. I've seen my army at muster, and they are strong. The bonds between you are strong. Please, don't let your strength fail you. This fight, it is not just my fight, not just the army's fight. It is also your fight, and I have faith that you will always be there to help me fight it."

A cheer went up through the crowd. Max knew he'd done it. In one short speech, carefully crafted by Liz and himself, he'd won over an entire planet of followers. He allowed himself to smile broadly at the crowd assembled before him. His people. He felt a swell of pride. Maybe he could handle this king thing after all.

A/N - As always, thanks for the excellent feedback! I'm glad the whole "Our Life in Roswell" chapter worked for you guys. Did you like Max's speech?


	19. History Lesson

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Title: King's Opening

****

Rating: PG-13/R

****

Category: M/L, M/M, Ky/I

****

Disclaimer: I don't own Roswell and I never have. Don't sue me, I'm just a poor college student, you wouldn't get anything anyway. 

****

Summary: Part One of the Battlefield Antar series. The group is summoned to Antar after a year roaming the US in their battered VW van.

****

Chapter 19 - History Lesson

General Daimtos, Kivar's head of Intelligence, looked over the reports on his desk. All was not well. The latest reports from all of his contacts all confirmed the same thing. Max Evans and not two, but six companions had arrived at the Resistance compound.

Daimtos ran his hand through his hair. Kivar was not going to be happy. There were still no contacts within the Resistance compound, their security was tighter than Kivar could even dream. Despite himself, this impressed Daimtos. Unfortunately, Kivar refused to believe that the compound was impenetrable, which made Daimtos' job considerably harder.

There was a knock on his door, and a young private stuck his head in.

"New reports just in, General."

"Thank you, Private," Daimtos responded without looking up. He picked up the reports and skimmed through them.

"Damn!" It seemed that Evans had given a speech to his people. Transcripts were unavailable, but it was indicated that the king, as Daimtos still thought of him, had expressed hints of clear strategy and good leadership qualities. The reports also indicated that the people had received him extremely well, as well as the patched together family he'd brought with him, newly dubbed the Royal Six.

Daimtos sighed heavily and pushed himself to his feet. He gathered all the pertinent reports and walked to his door. Kivar had to be informed, and he wasn't about to send a private to deliver the reports. Kivar was likely to kill the messenger if he wasn't important. Hell, Daimtos thought Kivar might just kill him anyway, but it had to be done. The pretender did not like bad news.

Thousands of miles away, Max was going over strategy with Liam. They were sitting in a small room in Max and Liz's suite of rooms that served as a private study for Max. There were map books and history books spread out on the table between the two men. Max pointed to a spot on one of the maps.

"So this castle that we're going to capture on Kerina, it's not just any castle?"

Liam nodded. "It is the second most ancient building still standing on Antar, and the summer residence of your family for generations. It is also the site of one of the most sacred spots on Antar, the castle's chapel." Liam reached for one of the history books and flipped through it as he talked, looking for a specific page.

"The main religion here is essentially the Catholic religion on Earth. It is also called Catholicism; our Bible is basically the same, although many names of people and places are different. That's simply because God was revealing Himself to a different people on a different planet. At any rate, beyond the similar beliefs and sacred texts, we also have saints like the Catholics do on Earth." Liam stopped flipping through pages and handed Max the book.

Max looked at it curiously. One page was all text, but the other was a full-page picture of a thin man with sad eyes.

"Who's this?" he asked.

"That," Liam answered, "is your family's, and the planet's, patron saint. He is Saint Nikolai."

"Nikolai? Like the councilman Nikolai?"

"Nikolai was named for this saint, yes."

"What did he do to become a saint?"

"A long time ago, Antar was ruled by people much like Kivar, except worse. Not only did they not allow Catholics to practice; they didn't allow any religion to practice. They imposed a society in which only the elite few had any freedom whatsoever. There were terror raids on the people every night on the orders of the royal police. It was not a good time to live."

Max nodded, flipping back a few pages and seeing artists' renderings of such terror. He grimaced and flipped back to the saint's picture.

"And Saint Nikolai?"

"He sacrificed everything to save his people. His sacrifice allowed Catholics and everyone else for that matter, to practice freely. It also freed the people from the oppressive rulers' grasp. From that time on, your family has ruled the planet. That's why he is your family's patron saint."

Max nodded. All the religious stuff was a little beyond him. He'd always been a borderline atheist. Sometimes he believed and sometimes he didn't. Recent events had him leaning towards the believing, but still, he was a skeptic.

"So what does that have to do with the castle's chapel?" Max asked.

"The chapel was built on the ground where Saint Nikolai gave his life so that the people would win. The castle was built there as well, in honor."

"So basically, this castle is not only of sentimental value since it was my family's summer retreat, it is also of great historical and religious value because of this Saint Nikolai person?"

Liam nodded. "Exactly." He reached across the table, snagging another book. Max pushed the book with the saint's picture aside to make room for the new book. Liam opened it to a diagram of the castle.

"The castle is very hard to capture. Kivar will know that we want it, so he'll have it guarded as well as he can. From the outside, it looks like a medieval castle on Earth, but its defenses are much more sophisticated. Not only are the walls extremely strong and thick, there are shields constantly up." Liam closed the book. 

"The only way to win is from the inside out. We'll send in teams of Special Forces to infiltrate the shielding rooms and various points on the castle walls. Once they're in position, forces on the outside can make their move. With the defense forces weakened on the inside, we should be able to control the battle."

"What about space forces?"

"A diversion will be created in Kivar's airspace. This will distract the space force long enough for the battle to take place."

Max nodded. It made sense. He glanced at the map on the wall of his study. Resistance controlled land was in green, and Kivar's land was in red. The castle was on the edge of the red. Just a tiny bit of ground with so much riding on it.

"When do we leave?" he asked.

"The Special Forces units will leave as soon as you sign the order. When we've received word that they are in position, the army units will be dispatched. You will be staying here, as will the rest of the Royal Six."

Max shot out of his seat. "Wait just a damn minute, Liam! I'm not sending my people on a mission that I can't go on. I will never, ever make anyone do something that I wouldn't do."

"Max, it isn't safe," Liam tried.

"War isn't safe, Liam! But that's what we're involved in, what I'm involved in. I won't be a leader that's out of touch with his people."

"You never went on campaigns before..."

"**_Zan_** never went on campaigns. Max Evans believes in a hands-on approach to leading. Michael, Kyle, and I will be accompanying this expedition."

"But, Max," Liam argued, trying one more time.

"And that's an order." Max interrupted firmly.

"What's an order?" came a voice from the doorway.

Max and Liam glanced up quickly and saw Liz at the door.

"Nothing," Liam said quickly.

Max glanced at him sharply, then crossed to the door and drew Liz inside, kissing her quickly in greeting.

"I was just telling Liam in no uncertain terms that I will be participating in the assault on Skyview Castle."

Liz nodded. "Of course you will," she affirmed. "Michael and Kyle, too, I suppose?"

Max nodded.

"We'll miss you," she said softly.

Max looked up sharply. Clearly, he'd been expecting Liz to want to come. "You aren't going to ask to come?"

Liz laughed softly. "I'm saving up for when things get really serious."

Max and Liam frowned, then Liam smiled.

"Well, at least if you and the other girls stay, it'll be easier to convince Rena to stay." He picked up a pile of books from the table and transferred them back to the bookshelf. "I've got to go," he said, grabbing another stack of books. "I need to prepare the battle order for Max to sign and notify the generals."

Max and Liz nodded. "Go ahead, Liam," Liz suggested. "We'll get the rest of the books."

"Okay. See you guys later."

"Bye Liam."

Max and Liz shelved the books in silence.

"When do you leave?" she asked when they finished.

"I don't know," Max answered. "Soon, though."

Liz nodded solemnly. She stepped into his waiting arms. "I'll miss you," she said softly.

Max gazed sadly into Liz's eyes. War certainly was hell, he thought. Too bad it was necessary.

She lifted her face and pressed her lips to his in a tender kiss. He returned her kiss, taking it deeper, his tongue sliding intimately into her mouth.

"I love you, Liz."

"I love you, Max."


	20. Conversations

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Title: King's Opening

****

Rating: PG-13/R

****

Category: M/L, M/M, Ky/I

****

Disclaimer: I don't own Roswell and I never have. Don't sue me, I'm just a poor college student, you wouldn't get anything anyway. 

****

Summary: Part One of the Battlefield Antar series. The group is summoned to Antar after a year roaming the US in their battered VW van.

****

Chapter 20 - Conversation

Michael and Maria lay in each other's arms in their bed. They were silent, though both were still awake. Michael was slowly running his hand up and down Maria's back in a gesture meant to comfort, not arouse. Maria's head rested comfortably on Michael's chest. Michael sighed deeply, and Maria glanced up at him.

"What?" she asked worriedly. Michael looked into Maria's eyes mournfully.

"It's starting."

Maria pulled back so she could see Michael's face more clearly.

"What's starting?"

"My involvement in the war."

"Oh," Maria said softly. "You're going to the castle, then?"

Michael nodded. Maria settled back against him, and they lay silent again for a few moments before Maria pulled back slightly again.

"I'm coming with you."

"No, you're not." Michael's voice was final, as if he would accept no resistance. Clearly, one of his famous stonewalls was in place. That didn't faze Maria, however.

"Of course I am. Where else would I be but with you?" She sat up, grabbed the nearest shirt, an old T-shirt of Michael's, and pulled it on. Grimly, Michael reached for his boxers. Obviously he had a battle on his hands. One he intended to win.

"Ria, you can't come."

"Michael. What would I do here without you? I can't not be with you. We haven't been apart in over a year! Michael, please!" As she spoke, she'd risen and begun to pace. Michael got up and grabbed her by the shoulders.

"I don't want you there, Ria. It'll be dangerous. You won't be safe, and I need you to be safe."

"You won't be safe," she pointed out.

"That's different."

"Why? Because you're a man?"

"No! Because I'm a goddamn general! I have to do this, it's my job! But you, you can stay home, where it's relatively safe."

"Liz is probably going."

"She's not. I asked Maxwell. And she offered to stay."

Maria digested this information for a moment. Liz, her best bargaining tool, was staying behind? Things did not bode well for Maria Guerin. Seeing this, Michael pressed his advantage.

"I'll rest easier knowing that you are safe here, baby." He ran his hands down her arms to link hands with her. "Please, Maria. Stay for me." He squeezed her hands hopefully and put on his best puppy-dog smile.

Maria sighed, leaned forward so her forehead rested on his chin. "Okay," she sighed. "I'll stay." Michael kissed her forehead tenderly.

"Thank you."

Kyle was out in the library of the Royal quarters. He sat at a desk, a single lamp casting a small circle of light around him. In front of him was an open book about warfare on Antar. He didn't notice that Isabel stood in the doorway watching him, a sad smile on her face. She'd come down to the kitchen for a cup of tea before bed when she'd heard pages rustling in the library and gone to take a look.

She glanced at the slim watch on her wrist. It was after midnight, and Kyle was still studying away in the library. Isabel knew he was nervous though he hadn't said so in so many words. Max had calmly explained the situation to both her and Kyle that morning. Kyle had taken the news well, but still...Isabel could tell.

"Kyle," she said softly. "It's after midnight. You should get some sleep."

Kyle jumped at the low, smooth sound of Isabel's voice.

"Hey Princess. Can't sleep."

Isabel smiled at the nickname and walked closer to Kyle, leaning over his shoulder. "'A History of Warfare on Antar,'" she read aloud. "Nice pleasure reading there, Kyle."

Kyle glanced up at Isabel over his shoulder. "I need to know. I'm going to war in what could be a matter of days or a matter of hours. I have to know what I'm up against."

Isabel could see she wasn't going to be able to tear Kyle from his research just yet. Maybe she could distract him.

"I thought Buddhists didn't do the whole war thing," she commented. Kyle pushed his chair back from the desk a little and turned slightly to face Isabel, who had perched on the desk next to Kyle's.

"You could say I'm a practical Buddhist, then," he answered with a grin. Then he sobered. "I owe you guys a lot. Max saved my life, and all of you, all of us, have made tremendous sacrifices for each other. Add to that the fact that while my religion preaches non-violence, being of a practical nature I believe that in extreme cases, it is sometimes necessary." He glanced down at the book on his desk, then back up at Isabel. "This is one of those cases."

Isabel nodded.

"Thank you," she said quietly.

"Hey," Kyle said, putting his hand on her knee. "My ass is on the line, too. I'm not that noble."

Isabel smiled, which was exactly the reaction Kyle had been hoping for. Then she placed her hand on top of his.

"Thank you anyway."

Kyle smiled in return.

Tristan and Nikolai sat drinking Antar's version of beer and watching a game remarkable similar to basketball on the super-advanced television in their shared apartment a floor above the Royal quarters. The game was on mute and they were discussing the upcoming battle.

"So the queen isn't going, and the general's wife isn't going," Nikolai said.

"Yeah" Tristan answered. "You know, you can call them by their first names. You know - Liz and Maria. Like Max wanted."

"Sorry, man. I keep forgetting. Is the...I mean, is Isabel going?"

"I don't think so. Max probably doesn't want her to." Tristan took a swig of his beer. "Far as I know, Max, Michael, Kyle, and Liam are the only ones going with the army. Then Erik is going with his Special Forces squad."

"Of course." Nikolai smiled, noticing his team had scored. Then he returned his attention to the subject at hand. "Why are we staying behind again?"

Tristan smiled. "Miss the excitement, do you? We're staying because we're the best at holding down the fort in other people's absences."

"Right," Nikolai said brightly. "Well, at least Isabel will be here too."

Tristan turned his head so he was looking at Nikolai's profile. "You're not thinking of putting the moves on the princess, are you?"

"What happened to calling them by their first names?" Nikolai said laughingly.

"Man, Nik...I wouldn't count on getting very far."

"Why?"

"She's probably involved with that Kyle guy."

Nikolai looked over at Tristan. "What makes you say that?"

Tristan shrugged. "The others in the group are paired off. It makes sense to assume that she and Kyle are as well."

"They didn't say anything like that."

"Well why would they? Do you broadcast your love life to everyone you meet?"

Nikolai grimaced slightly, then grinned. "You may be right, pal, but don't you think she's at least worth a try?"

Tristan shrugged. "Whatever, man."

"Just because you've been head-over-heels for Christiana since you first saw her doesn't mean there aren't other women out there you know."

Tristan delivered a friendly punch to Nikolai's shoulder then turned the volume up on the game.

"Shut up and watch the game, hotshot."

Nikolai chuckled and dutifully returned his attention to the game.

Liz shot straight up in bed, gasping for breath. Max was sitting up and gathering her into his arms in an instant, murmuring softly to her.

"Shh, baby, shh. What was it? What did you see?"

"Something...you...the castle...nothing...I don't know," Liz finished breathlessly. Max ran one hand up and down Liz's back and reached up with the other to tuck Liz's hair behind her ear and stroke her cheek.

"Shh, honey. It's okay. Think carefully, what did you see?"

Liz took a deep breath. "It wasn't clear. I didn't really see anything. I just felt you and I felt that you were in the castle. Someone was watching you, you couldn't see them." She stared into nothing, trying desperately to remember more details. Max continued to hold her close.

"Okay, honey," Max said in a low voice. "Is that all you remember?"

Liz nodded. "Be careful in that castle, Max. Be alert." She pulled back, placed her palm against his cheek. "If you feel someone watching you...if the little hairs on the back of your neck stand on end...just look around. Someone's watching you, someone who shouldn't be watching you."

Max smiled, nodded. "Of course I'll be careful, Lizzy," he said, reverting to the name he only used when comforting her or when being extremely emotional. He tugged her back down onto the pillows, cradling her head on his shoulder.

"Let's go back to sleep now, honey."

Liz nodded sleepily against his shoulder. Already she was drifting. She snuggled closer to her husband, their souls mixing in sleep.

A/N - Thanks again for all the great feedback, I'm so glad people are enjoying my story. Hey Katie, I'm glad you like the Kyle/Izzy bit, I've wanted them to get together since right after I accepted that Alex was really gone. Never did like Jesse, lol. Marilyne, Roswellgrrrl, and StardustDreamer, thanks for the comments on the speech, I was really hoping it would work well! ~~Liz


	21. So it Begins

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Title: King's Opening

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Rating: PG-13/R

****

Category: M/L, M/M, Ky/I

****

Disclaimer: I don't own Roswell and I never have. Don't sue me, I'm just a poor college student, you wouldn't get anything anyway. 

****

Summary: Part One of the Battlefield Antar series. The group is summoned to Antar after a year roaming the US in their battered VW van.

****

Chapter 21 - So it Begins

The gang was gathered around the large table in their kitchen/dining room eating dinner. Max glanced around the table. Kyle and Isabel were holding an animated discussion across the table from where Max sat, their heads close together. Isabel's eyes were flashing merrily, and Kyle was grinning whenever he wasn't talking. Michael, Liz, and Maria were also conversing happily.

Max was amazed at the resilience of his friends. For two days they'd lived with the possibility of Max, Michael, and Kyle's abrupt departure from the compound hanging over their heads and yet here they were happily taking around the dinner table. Max smiled sadly, and sighed deeply. Liz noticed and turned from Maria and Michael to look at Max with concern.

"What's wrong, Max?"

Max shook his head slightly. Liz cocked her head to one side and gazed curiously into Max's eyes. Something was wrong, she could tell. He returned her gaze steadily, and suddenly it dawned on her.

"Oh, Max..." she said softly.

He nodded sadly, then cleared his throat. He had to get it over with, it might as well be now. Then at least they'd have the small comfort of dessert afterwards.

"Hey guys," he began, "I need to tell you something."

Michael, Maria, Kyle and Isabel looked to Max expectantly. He blinked slowly, then steeled himself to ruin the idyllic dinner scene.

"Michael, Kyle, and I need to leave in the morning." He said it quickly and clearly, like ripping off a Band-Aid really fast.

Michael's face closed off behind one of his stone walls and the sparkle faded from Maria's eyes. Kyle set his jaw and Isabel's eyes went wide.

"Oh God..." she said softly. Blindly Kyle reached for her hand under the table. She took it gratefully.

"I'm sorry it's so sudden," Max said to fill the silence.

"We knew it would be, Maxwell, don't apologize for it," Michael answered gruffly as he slung an arm over the back of Maria's chair. Max nodded.

"The three of us and Liam will each command a division of soldiers. We'll be going over the order of battle on the way to the field headquarters. Tomorrow morning we need to meet in the hangar at 0700 hours," he added, unconsciously slipping into military time. Michael and Kyle nodded.

The gang sat in silence for endless minutes, picking uncertainly at the last of their dinners. Then Isabel finally broke the silence by suggesting that they should have dessert before the men went to pack. At the gang's affirmative response, she got up and brought the chocolate pie and tobasco bottles sitting on the counter to the table.

Max sliced the pie and gave each person a piece, then passed the tobasco sauce around. Everyone but Maria doused the pie with it, and she shuddered delicately at the thought. Her reaction brought the first real smiles since Max's bombshell, and soon the gang was back to the happy conversations they had been having.

But now there was an undercurrent of sadness in every smile that didn't quite reach the eyes, every laugh that was not quite full.

Later that evening, Kyle was in his room packing a few changes of clothes into the pack Liam had provided for the battle. He'd just picked up a pair of socks when there was a soft knock on his door.

"Come in," he called out, stuffing the socks in his pack.

"Hey Kyle." Kyle smiled when he heard her voice and turned to face her.

"Hey Princess." His smile wavered as he looked at her and a concerned look crept up his face. "You okay, Princess?"

Isabel started to nod, but her eyes filled with tears and she was forced to shake her head. "I'm just so scared, Kyle." Her gaze dropped to the floor. "What if you or Max or Michael get hurt or…" she returned her pained gaze to Kyle's face. "Or what if one of you dies? I just couldn't take it, Kyle. Not after Alex and Grant and Jesse."

Kyle crossed the room and then pulled Isabel down to sit next to him on the bed. "First of all, I want you to remember that Jesse isn't dead. Shh," he added when Isabel looked about to interrupt. "He's not. And neither Alex nor Grant was your fault. No one blames you, Isabel." He brushed a strand of Isabel's hair behind her ear, his fingers lingering on her cheek for a split second longer than necessary. 

"And furthermore, we all knew what we were getting into when we came here. You knew this would happen, Izzy."

She nodded miserably. "That doesn't mean I was ready for it."

"I know it doesn't. But you have to be strong, okay? Will you be strong for me?" he asked, framing her face with his hands.

"Okay," she said softly.

"Good girl." He pulled her into his arms and cradled her head on his shoulder. "It'll be okay, Princess. We'll come back to you, I promise."

She pulled back to look into his eyes. "You promise?"

"I promise." They stared into each other's eyes for a long minute. Isabel wondered wildly what would happen if she kissed him before he broke the odd moment by releasing her completely and crossing the room to retrieve another pair of socks to put in his pack.

In Max and Liz's room Liz was helping Max pack the last of his extra clothes into his pack.

"And one more pair of extremely sexy leather pants," she said, handing Max a pair of black pants. Max laughed softly.

"I'm glad you approve of the native dress on our new planet."

Liz eyed Max appreciatively. "Well, who wouldn't? Those leather pants that are tight in all the right places and those shirts..." she sighed theatrically.

"What about the shirts?"

"They're like those shirts the male figure skaters wear that ripple when they skate really fast, they're so sexy."

Max laughed and pulled Liz into his arms. "And you...look at you in that sexy dress."

Liz smiled. The typical Antarian lady wore simple empire-waisted sundresses with flowing skirts for everyday wear. They were quite comfortable, and Liz had already discovered how much Max liked how they looked on her. And on the floor after he'd taken them off of her, she thought.

"You all packed?" she asked silkily.

Max grinned rakishly at her. "Oh yeah, I'm all done packing."

"It's so early...what will you do with all this time before you need to sleep, I wonder?"

Max's grin widened. "I can think of a few things." He dipped his head and took Liz's mouth in a deep kiss.

"I bet you can," Liz murmured into Max's mouth. She made a contented humming sound as Max peeled the dress away from her body and covered her breasts with his hands.

"No fair," she murmured.

"What?"

"You have far to many clothes on. I'm at a disadvantage."

Max grinned again. "Well we can't have that, can we?"

"Nope," Liz said as she pulled Max's shirt over his head and reached for his pants. "It just wouldn't be fair."

Laughing, they fell into bed, forgetting for a moment that Max was going to war in the morning.

Next door, Michael watched Maria with a concerned look on his face. She was sitting in a corner, ostensibly reading a book. But she hadn't turned a page in fifteen minutes.

"Ria..." he said softly. She jumped slightly and looked up at Michael.

"What?"

"Are you sure you're okay?"

She nodded and smiled a tad to brightly. "Oh yeah, Spaceboy, I'm just fine."

He crossed the room to kneel down in front of her so that they were on eye level. "Really?"

Maria started to nod, but like Isabel before her tears filled her eyes and she couldn't pull it off. Michael reached up and brushed the tears from Maria's eyes.

"It'll be okay, Maria."

"How do you know, Michael? How can you possibly know that you aren't going to die in this battle? Or the next? Or the one after that?" A panicked look was creeping across Maria's face. "You're going off to war, Michael! Nothing is certain."

"No, Maria." Michael reached up and framed her face with his hands, his thumbs brushing gently at the tears streaming down her face. "You're wrong. I will always come back to you. Look at me," he ordered gently when she closed her eyes and shook her head. "Look at me Maria. Nothing will keep me from coming back to you. I promise." He tucked her hair behind her ears. "Okay?"

She nodded weakly.

"Okay."

Up one floor, Serena and Liam lay in their bed, entwined in each other's arms.

"I'll miss you, Liam."

Liam gently stroked Serena's back. "I'll miss you too, Rena."

"Be careful out there, and watch out for the others."

"I will, but they'll be fine."

"They don't know what they're doing..."

"They're pretty smart, Rena. If they don't already, they'll figure it out real fast."

Serena cuddled closer to her husband. "I know. I just worry."

"It'll be all right."

"You know Liz can see the future?" Serena asked sleepily.

"Yeah, so?"

"You must be right, because she wouldn't let Max go if it wouldn't."

Liam smiled. "Of course I'm right."

A/N - You guys give such good feedback! Mucho thankies, lol. Sorry Roswellgrrrl, but I'm gonna drag that Kyle/Isabel suspense out just a bit longer, lol. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter. ~~Liz


	22. Gone for a Soldier

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Title: King's Opening

****

Rating: PG-13/R

****

Category: M/L, M/M, Ky/I

****

Disclaimer: I don't own Roswell and I never have. Don't sue me, I'm just a poor college student, you wouldn't get anything anyway. 

****

Summary: Part One of the Battlefield Antar series. The group is summoned to Antar after a year roaming the US in their battered VW van.

****

Chapter 22 - Gone for a Soldier

Footsteps echoed through the massive hangar in the Resistance compound. Liam looked up from where he was doing a last minute engine check on the transport plane that would take him, Max, Michael, and Kyle to the Resistance field headquarters on Kerina. Walking towards him were Nikolai, Tristan, and Christiana.

"Hey guys, what's up?"

"What's up?" Tristan said in disbelief. "You're about to go off to war and you ask us what's up?"

"You guys didn't have to come all the way down here to see me off. I said goodbye last night." He received three identical you've-got-to-be-kidding-me looks from his friends and shrugged. "Okay, it's your morning to ruin as you so choose."

"Where's Rena?" Nikolai asked.

"We said our goodbyes before I came down here. Rena didn't want to come. You know how she worries."

Christiana stepped forward and embraced Liam warmly. "You be careful out there, Liam. And make sure my brother comes home safe, hmm?"

Liam pressed a friendly kiss to Christiana's cheek. "No worries, Chrissy. Erik and I will both be fine."

"I hope so," she answered softly, fighting back tears. "Go with God," she said, and turned and began walking out of the hangar.

Tristan watched her anxiously, then turned to Liam. He spoke before Tristan could.

"Go on, then, mate. I know you want to go after her." Liam shook Tristan's hand quickly and gave him a playful shove in the direction that Christiana had gone.

"Thanks, mate. Good luck."

Nikolai snorted as he watched Tristan run after Christiana. "He's so head over heels for that girl, and she has no clue."

Liam nodded. "One of these days she'll figure it out." He turned to the plane and gave the engine a final tweak. "There," he said, closing the engine hatch. "She's good to fly. Any words of wisdom, Nik?"

"Wisdom? From me?" Nikolai joked, then sobered. "Look, man, just be careful. Watch over the others. They're smart, sure, but they've never done this before, so watch them anyway."

Liam nodded. "I plan to."

Just then, footsteps echoed through the hangar again. Nikolai and Liam looked towards the entrance and saw the whole royal family walking towards them.

"The gang's all here," Liam murmured softly. Nikolai smiled.

The gang reached Liam and Nikolai.

"Where should we put these?" Max asked, gesturing towards the packs he, Michael, and Kyle carried.

"Here, we'll take them," Nikolai said, grabbing the nearest bag. Liam grabbed the other two, and he and Liam rounded the plane and tossed the packs into the cargo bay on the other side. When they returned to the other side of the plane, Max and Michael had both pulled their wives into their arms. Kyle had put a comforting hand on Isabel's shoulder, and she was gazing at him tragically, tears in her eyes.

"I'm gonna get on the plane and start warming her up," Liam announced gently. "Five minutes, Max."

Max nodded and returned to gazing down into Liz's upturned face.

"Liz..."

"Shh, Max. It's not goodbye, we're with each other always. Just close your eyes and I'm there." She stood on tiptoe and pressed a short but heartfelt kiss to his lips. "And remember my vision..."

"I will. I love you, Lizzy."

"I love you too, Max." She smiled sadly and pushed him towards Isabel.

"Izzy..." he said softly.

"Be careful Max," she responded, and hugged him tightly. Then she turned to Michael. "You too, Michael." She hugged him as well.

He turned back to Maria. "Ria...I'll miss you."

She smiled slightly. "I would've come with you."

"I know." He drew her into his arms.

"Be careful," she whispered.

"I will."

Liz and Maria hugged Kyle at the same time, giving him the same warnings to be careful as they'd given their husbands. He assured them he would, and turned to Isabel.

"Hey Princess," he said lightly, brushing a tear off of her cheek.

"Hey Kyle," she answered softly. He drew her into his arms, hugging her tightly. She buried her face in his shoulder.

"You come back, you hear me?"

Kyle grinned. "Yes Your Highness."

Isabel laughed sadly. "Cheeky bum," she managed.

"Bye, Izzy."

"Bye, Kyle."

"Max! Michael! Kyle!" Liam shouted from inside the plane. "We've got to leave in a few minutes. You need to get on board."

The last goodbyes and I love yous were murmured and Max, Michael, and Kyle boarded the plane. The door shut behind them.

Maria and Liz slipped their arms around each other's waists, naturally turning to one another for comfort. Isabel stared bleakly at the ship. Her brothers were on that ship...and they were going to war. Kyle was on that ship, going to war. By the time she realized she hadn't included Kyle with her 'brothers,' Nikolai had come up to her and put an arm around her shoulders.

"They'll be fine," he assured her. She smiled up at him gratefully.

"Thank you."

The four people remaining in the hangar watched grimly as the plane hovered for a moment and then sped out of the hangar.

Liz and Maria were both holding back tears.

"Hey Isabel, we're gonna go back to our rooms and make some tea. You want to come?" Liz asked her quietly.

Isabel thought about Kyle, Max, and Michael and she thought about tea. Somehow, she didn't think a cup of tea with Liz and Maria would make her feel too much better.

"No. I think I'll pass. Tea's not really my thing."

Liz nodded. "Okay, Izzy. See you around."

"Bye Liz. Bye Maria." She watched as they slowly exited the hangar.

"If you don't want tea, what do you want?" Nikolai asked.

Isabel pulled discreetly out from under Nikolai's arm and thought about his question.

"Are the stars still out?" she asked softly.

Nikolai glanced at his watch. 7:10. "They should be. Sunrise isn't until eight this morning."

Isabel took a deep breath. "I need to see the stars." When she could see the stars, she felt closer to Alex. Even after everything that had happened since his death, she still drew strength from his memory.

"The stars?" Nikolai repeated quizzically.

"Yes," she said firmly. "Is there somewhere safe I can go to see the stars? Outside?"

Nikolai thought for a moment. "Sure. I can take you there."

"You don't have to, just tell me how to get there."

"No," Nikolai said, taking her arm. "I'd rather show you."

Isabel mustered a weak smile. "Oh all right. Have it your way then."

General Daimtos was awakened by an incessant pounding on his door at 7:30 in the morning. Groaning, he rolled out of bed and pulled on a robe. He staggered to the door and opened it.

"What?" he growled to the private who stood nervously outside his door.

"I'm sorry, sir, but the captain said you were to be notified immediately."

Daimtos snapped awake. "Immediately notified of what?"

"We have reason to believe that the king is going to make a move on Skyview Castle."

"What? When?"

"We don't know. Anytime."

"Send word to them as soon as you leave here. Tell them to be on alert and that we will be sending reinforcements in the next 48 hours. I want the number of soldiers there doubled." He ran a hand through his rumpled hair. "We can't afford to lose Skyview." He glanced at the private. "Dismissed"

"Yes, sir."

Daimtos shut his door wearily. Kivar would have to be told. "Dammit," he murmured softly. "Dammit!"

A/N - Mean? Little old me? Oh, quite so, lol. Don't worry, Kyle/Izzy action coming soon. I promise on my Roswell honor that it will happen in this story and I won't make you wait for the next. (lol) Hope you liked this chapter!


	23. Meetings

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Title: King's Opening

****

Rating: PG-13/R

****

Category: M/L, M/M, Ky/I

****

Disclaimer: I don't own Roswell and I never have. Don't sue me, I'm just a poor college student, you wouldn't get anything anyway. 

****

Summary: Part One of the Battlefield Antar series. The group is summoned to Antar after a year roaming the US in their battered VW van.

****

Chapter 23 - Meetings

Isabel stood silently on the roof of the Resistance compound. There was a garden there, and the flowers smelled heavenly. The railing that went around the roof was smooth under her hands. Nikolai stood next to her. But she didn't notice. She was too busy staring into the Antarian sky.

It was different than the Earth sky. The stars seemed brighter, closer. When she'd commented on this, Nikolai had told her that the Antarians had developed lights that somehow lit the houses and streets but did not produce the same levels of ambient light as the lights used on Earth. The result was a breathtaking number of stars.

"Alex used to love stargazing," she said softly.

Nikolai turned his head to look at her. "Alex...the boy who was..."

"Killed. Yes, that Alex." Isabel glanced at Nikolai before returning her gaze to the stars. "We went stargazing together once." She shook her head. "We should have again. He would have loved it here."

The sun was beginning to creep up towards the horizon, a telltale glow getting brighter by the minute.

"I should go in," Isabel murmured. "Liz and Maria will worry." She turned from the railing.

"Wait." Nikolai reached out to touch Isabel's arm. "Watch the sunrise with me." His voice was gentle, cajoling. Isabel thought of all the desert sunrises that she'd watched safely huddled with Kyle, Michael, Max, and the girls. She shook her head.

"No, I want to go in. But thanks for asking," she added with a warm smile.

Nikolai forced a smile and let go of Isabel's arm. "If you insist. I can take you back..."

"No, that's all right. You watch your sunrise." She slipped through the door to the stairs back into the compound.

Nikolai turned back to the railing and stared broodingly out at the Antarian countryside, looking every inch the iceman Isabel had originally dubbed him.

Max, Michael, Kyle, and Liam were huddled around a small table in the transport plane, which was running on autopilot. A map, marked with the battle plans, was spread out in front of them.

"This is the weakest side of the castle," Liam explained, pointing to the western side. "They don't put any soldiers there because they figure the approach is too hard for an army to successfully launch an attack, and there aren't any doors. But we're good, so we'll be able to. So that's where we've concentrated our largest division, that's yours, Max." He glanced up at Max, who nodded.

"My men just need to all concentrate on breaking the shield, which won't be too hard if Erik's been successful. Then we climb the walls. After that, there's no defenses until we're inside the courtyard, where we will hopefully meet the rest of you."

Liam smiled. "You've got it." He turned to Michael. "You'll have the south side. That side will have the most Antarian defenders, so Erik's men will have the shields down as low as possible, lower even than those on the west side."

Michael nodded. "So we break through the shield, easily, then fight like berserkers to get through the gates."

"Basically." Liam turned to Kyle. "You have the east side. Like the west side, there aren't any doors. But the approach is easier, so there will be some defenders. You should be able to handle them easily, though."

"Then we climb the walls, fight our way to the courtyard, and pow-wow with you there. I got it." Kyle smiled grimly.

"Good," Liam said, returning Kyle's grim smile. "And I'll take the north side, the back gate. Once we meet in the middle, it will simply be a matter of fighting our way down to the control center. If they don't surrender before we reach it, they will then."

Liam rose from the table to check his instruments. "We should be reaching the deployment point in ten minutes. Are you ready?"

Max, Michael, and Kyle nodded grimly.

Kivar sat at his massive conference table, his head of Intelligence and the commander in chief of his army and space force at his right and left. He had just been informed of the possibility of an attack on Skyview Castle.

"And you don't know when this attack is taking place?" he growled.

"No, sir, we don't." answered Daimtos. "But we believe it could be soon. The king..."

"Don't call him that!" Kivar roared angrily. Daimtos remained silent. "What should be done?" he asked in a quieter tone.

Daimtos cleared his throat. "The current guard there is not sufficient to withstand a prolonged attack, or a large one. I believe the number of soldiers present should be doubled, and space-based defenses put in place."

The commander in chief slammed his fist down on the table. "Dammit, Daimtos, I don't have the people for that! My Space Force is completely tied up taking care of Kathana's threat to our airspace. The army is spread out all over Kaima and the bit of Kerina we have. It will take me at least 48 hours to scrape together that amount of troops!"

"We don't have 48 hours!" Daimtos exclaimed. "The attack could come at any time."

Kivar leaned forward. "Then why didn't we know earlier? Isn't that your job, my friend?"

Daimtos shuddered inwardly at being called friend by Kivar. He was a dangerous man to be that close to. "I do my best, General. But as I keep informing you, their headquarters are impenetrable, we can't get anyone inside. Their communications are also incredibly well-protected, and half of what we do pick up is rubbish sent to mislead us."

"I don't believe that's my problem to fix, Daimtos." Kivar leaned back in his chair, his voice dangerously low. "It's your problem, and I expect you to fix it." He turned to the commander in chief. "You'll have your men ready in 48 hours?"

"Yes, sir."

"You'd better. Both of you, get out of my sight."

The two men hurriedly pushed their chairs back and left the room, each muttering frustrated curses as soon as the door shut behind them. Exchanging sympathetic looks, they set off in opposite directions.

Kivar got up from his chair slowly and crossed to the map on the wall. He stopped in front of the star marked Skyview Castle, just barely behind the line of his control.

"Perhaps some backup is in order," he murmured softly.


	24. Coping and Waiting

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Title: King's Opening

****

Rating: PG-13/R

****

Category: M/L, M/M, Ky/I

****

Disclaimer: I don't own Roswell and I never have. Don't sue me, I'm just a poor college student, you wouldn't get anything anyway. 

****

Summary: Part One of the Battlefield Antar series. The group is summoned to Antar after a year roaming the US in their battered VW van.

****

Chapter 24 - Coping and Waiting

Liz, Maria, and Serena sat in the cozy kitchen of the royal quarters sipping steaming cups of tea. They were idly chatting, studiously avoiding talk of the upcoming battle, when Isabel walked in and flopped down into a chair at the table.

"I'll take some of that tea now, if you don't mind."

Liz took one look at Isabel's pale face and got up from the table. "Of course," she answered, getting a cup down from the cupboard and a teabag from the box on the counter. She heated the water in the kettle with her powers and poured it into the cup.

"Thank you," Isabel said quietly when Liz set the steaming cup in front of her. Liz sat down.

"You okay, Izzy?" she asked gently.

Isabel nodded. "I went to look at the stars."

Maria and Liz nodded, knowing Isabel only did that when she wanted to think about Alex. Serena looked at Isabel sharply.

"Where did you go?"

"The roof. Nikolai took me up there."

Liz and Maria raised their eyebrows. "Nikolai took you up there?" Liz asked suggestively.

"Liz! It was nothing like that," Isabel insisted. "He asked what I wanted to do if I didn't want tea, and I asked if there was a safe place to look at the stars." She shrugged. "He showed me where I could go."

"I don't know, Isabel," Serena put in. "Nik's not the type to do something if he doesn't get anything out of it."

Isabel moved her teabag up and down pensively. "He's cute...but..." she paused, thinking of the strange moment with Kyle the night before. "Nothing's happening there."

"I don't know, Izzy," Maria joked. "He is quite cute."

Isabel laughed. "You're just jealous because you're stuck with Michael."

"Yep," Maria said proudly. "Stole him right out from under you."

"It's a mark of how far we've come from worrying about 'destiny' that that was actually funny," Isabel replied softly.

Liz, who had been watching Isabel's face carefully during the Nikolai exchange and had flashed back to the image of Isabel and Kyle laughing in the spaceship kitchen, set her teacup down on the table. "So, Izzy...who keeps there from being a chance with Nikolai?"

"What?" Isabel asked, startled by Liz's perception.

"Well, there's gotta be someone."

"Ooo, yeah, there does," Maria piped up, her face brightening. Even Serena put her two cents in.

"Come on, Isabel, tell us!"

"No!" Isabel said laughingly. "There isn't anyone," she added, feeling the need to keep her confused feelings a secret. "It's too soon. It was only a few weeks ago I finally said goodbye to Jesse."

The girls nodded, accepting Isabel's excuses for the time being.

Tristan found Christiana sitting in the music room on the public floor of the Resistance compound. She was sitting at the baby grand piano in the corner, picking out a sad, slow melody and humming.

"Christiana," he said softly. She jumped, and whirled to face him.

"You startled me, Tristan."

"They'll be fine, you know."

Christiana lowered her head, trying to cover her worry.

"Erik's a big boy, and he knows what he's doing," Tristan continued.

"I know, Tristan, but that doesn't stop the worry. And Liam...he's practically a brother to me as well." She sighed. "And I can't help thinking that this battle is more important than it should be."

"What do you mean?"

"It's the king's first battle, his first test. And it's Skyview. I can't help thinking that maybe Liam was being too ambitious."

Tristan sat down next to Christiana on the piano bench. "Liam knows what he's doing. Max needs to come in with a bang, make an impression. Show Kivar that he means business."

"But if this doesn't work...everything falls apart."

"But it will work." Tristan frowned, not liking the worry lines that lined Christiana's normally happy face. "Everything will be fine."

He turned to the piano and began playing part of an old children's song. Christiana laughed.

"I haven't heard that in ages!"

"Play it with me..." Tristan suggested. "You still remember your part, don't you?" When they were younger, their favorite duet to play on the piano had been this song.

"Of course!"

"Show me." Christiana laughed again and began playing the cheerful melody in perfect counterpoint to the part Tristan played. Tristan smiled as he watched the worry lines fade from Christiana's face.

Max gave himself a silent pep talk as he climbed out of the transport plane and onto the landing strip at the field headquarters a few miles from Skyview Castle. Close behind him were Michael and Kyle. Liam was already out and talking to the soldier who met them.

"Any word from General Knight?" he was asking. Max raised his eyebrows. General Knight must be Erik, but it was the first he'd heard of last names.

"Yes, sir," the soldier was saying. Max began to pay more attention. The soldier continued. "He says that the garrison has received word from the capital that in 48 hours reinforcements large enough to double the number of defenders will be arriving."

Liam and the soldier began walking briskly towards the building, and Max, Michael, and Kyle quickly followed, listening carefully to every word that was said.

"They were also told to be on their guard, so we're going to have to be extra careful. The General also told me to tell you get there as soon as you could."

Liam smiled tightly. "We're those his exact words?"

The soldier returned Liam's smile. "Actually, sir, I believe his exact words were 'and tell Liam and the rest of them to get their asses out to this godforsaken castle yesterday, the bastards haven't given us much time.'"

"Yeah," Liam said. "That sounds like Erik."

He turned a sharp corner as soon as they entered the building and then swept into a conference room. In the room was a long table with many chairs and what looked like laptop computers in front of each chair. Along the wall at the head of the table was a large video screen. Liam turned to the soldier who he'd been talking with.

"Have someone get our packs from the plane and bring them here, then get me General Knight on the com link as soon as possible. Nobody comes in here unless it's extremely important, got it?"

The soldier nodded. "Yes, sir." With that he left the room. As soon as he was gone Liam relaxed visibly and sat down in a chair near the head of the table.

"Sit down, boys," he said companionably. "We can't move until we speak to Erik. The next few hours will be long."

A/N - Awww, don't worry about Nikolai, he's harmless, lol. And yes, I am crazy, lol. Or at least I've been accused of it many times...lol.


	25. Tense

**Title:** King's Opening

**Rating:** PG-13/R

**Category:** M/L, M/M, Ky/I

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Roswell and I never have. Don't sue me, I'm just a poor college student, you wouldn't get anything anyway. 

**Summary:** Part One of the Battlefield Antar series. The group is summoned to Antar after a year roaming the US in their battered VW van.

**Chapter 25 - Tense**

"You understand your mission?"

"Yes, General."

Kivar smiled thinly.  "Be sure you succeed."

The thin man standing in front of Kivar nodded and then hurried out of the room.

Liz sat at the big writing desk in the study adjacent to the room she shared with Max.  Pulling a slim dark green book from one of the drawers, she chose a pen from the jar on the desk.

_July 2nd.  Max hasn't even been gone twelve hours and I already miss him as if I haven't seen him in weeks.  I know I need to be strong for Isabel and Maria, but I still can't help but worry about Max and the rest of the guys.  I mean, they've gone off to war.  This whole alien thing, this whole I-now-live-on-another-planet thing seems very unreal sometimes, but war...war is real no matter where you go to fight it.  All I can do though is pray and wait for news from Max._

Liz signed her name at the bottom of the entry.  She smiled at the still-fresh pleasure of seeing her name joined with Max's.  Deep down, she knew the simple thrill of being able to sign things "Liz Evans" would never fade, no matter how long she and Max were married.

She capped the pen and put it back in the jar.  Still smiling, she closed her journal and slipped it back into its drawer.  Underneath it was her old journal.  Her smile softened and she took on the look of someone absorbed in memory.

"Those were the days..." she said softly.  She pulled the old journal from the drawer and sat down in one of the overstuffed and very comfortable reading chairs in the corner of the study.  Flipping on a reading light, she opened to September 25, 1999.

"So, Maria," Serena began.  She and Maria were curled up on opposite ends of the couch in the living room of the Royal Quarters.  "What's it like being the only human in a family of aliens?"

Maria laughed.  "It's a lot of fun most of the time.  There are some times when I get a bit jealous that everyone else has powers and I don't, but then I remember what it took for Liz and Kyle to get those powers."  She shook her head.  "That kind of turns me off."

"I suppose it would," Serena said laughingly.  Then she sobered.  "Are you enjoying it here on Antar?  Besides the whole my-husband's-off-on-the-warpath thing, I mean."

Maria gazed pensively off into nothing for a moment before answering.  She looked over at Serena.  "You know what, Rena?  I think I am."

Serena smiled happily, and Maria smiled in return.

A knock sounded on the door of the room Max, Michael, Kyle, and Liam sat tensely in.  Liam shot out of his seat to answer it.  Michael stood up and began to pace.

The soldier from before stood at the door.

"General Knight is on the com line."

"Finally," Liam growled.  He strode to the front of the room and pressed a button.  Erik's tense face appeared on the conference screen.

"Hey Erik, what took you so long, buddy?"

"Can it, Liam.  I'm doing the best I can."  He glanced behind his back as if checking to see if he was being watched.

Max pushed up from his seat, walked to the screen.

"What can you tell us, Erik?"

"You guys gotta get your asses out here pronto.  We got reinforcements equaling the number already here with an ETA in forty hours.  You'll want to be settled in before they get here."

"Are you sure you've had enough time to prepare things, Erik?"

"Dammit, Liam!  I've used all the time we have.  There is no more time.  Put the damn operation in gear!"

Kyle, who had sat quietly watching the whole exchange, leaned forward so that Erik could see him.

"Erik.  Why are you this worried?"

Erik glanced sharply in Kyle's direction, then Max's.  "No reason."

"No," Liam said quietly, "Kyle's right.  You are reacting oddly.  What's going on that you aren't telling us?"

"I just have a bad feeling.  Kivar wouldn't have been satisfied with the promise of reinforcements in forty-eight hours when they knew we could move any day we wanted.  He would have done something else, put someone or something here as insurance."

The five men exchanged serious, slightly worried expressions.  Max hardened his face.  "Don't worry, Erik.  We'll get our asses out there ASAP.  See you soon."

Tristan and Nikolai sat in the main offices of the Resistance compound.  They were hunched over sophisticated computers and communications devices and had just finished reading Liam's hasty report on Erik's communication.

"It's really starting," Nikolai said solemnly.  Tristan nodded.

"Here we go.  It's gonna be a long night."

Unknowing of the men's headlong rush to battle, Liz, Maria, Isabel, and Serena shared a late dinner in the Royal Quarters.

"Would you like to stay here with us, Serena?" Isabel asked with a hint of shyness.  She still wasn't used to letting people in sometimes.

"I don't know," Serena replied.

"We'd really like you to," Liz put in cajolingly.

"You can have my bed," Isabel offered.

"Where will you sleep?" Serena asked.

"Probably in Kyle's room.  I know he won't mind."

Liz exchanged raised-eyebrow glances with Maria, but didn't comment.

Serena agreed to stay in Isabel's room.  The four girls quickly washed up and headed off to bed.

Isabel sighed as she slipped into Kyle's bed.  It smelled like him.  She took a deep breath and curled into a self-protective ball.  Concentrating on the comfort of Kyle's scent, she drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

Serena and Maria slept dreamlessly as well, although Maria felt the bed was far too big without Michael on the other side and Serena wished she could feel Liam nearby.

As most people in the compound slept peacefully around her, Liz began to dream.  She was walking through Skyview Castle, and though she'd never been there, she knew exactly how it looked and somehow knew where she was going.

A sense of urgency entered her mind and she began to run.  Sounds of battle began to fill her ears.  Suddenly she stopped running and began to creep silently along a wall, somehow knowing she was sneaking up on someone.

She reached a balcony above the courtyard where the main fighting was taking place.  She could see all of her men fighting valiantly.  Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw another figure standing on the balcony watching the battle.

A tall, thin man with murder in his eyes.

She shot awake, sitting up in the bed she shared with Max and gasping for breath.

"Max!"

A/N – I'm soooooo sorry about the lack of updates, but I was moving to college and had no access to the computer.  But I'm all moved in now and back to writing.  I'll try and be as regular with updates as before, but as of right now I have no idea how busy I'll be.  Hope you liked this chapter!  ~~Liz


	26. Silence before Dawn

**Title:** King's Opening

**Rating:** PG-13/R

**Category:** M/L, M/M, Ky/I

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Roswell and I never have. Don't sue me, I'm just a poor college student, you wouldn't get anything anyway. 

**Summary:** Part One of the Battlefield Antar series. The group is summoned to Antar after a year roaming the US in their battered VW van.

**Chapter 26 – Silence before Dawn**

Max blinked rapidly. He'd been riding for hours across the dark Antarian landscape and throughout the entire ride hadn't glimpsed a single dwelling or sign of life.  Liam had informed him that the area had been fairly well-populated before the Fall, but the people who lived there fled from Kivar's rule.  Many were now settled in and around the Resistance compound.

But now, after hours of darkness, Max thought he saw a glimmer of light on the horizon.  He turned to ask Liam if it was the castle, but Liam spoke before Max could answer.

"Can you see the lights, Max?"

"Yeah," Max answered.  "I was just about to ask you about them, actually."

"It's Skyview.  We're almost there."

Max nodded silently, then looked over his shoulder to see if Michael and Kyle had heard.  They nodded solemnly to indicate that they had.

Michael shifted his gaze from Max's face to the lights in the distance.  It was finally hitting home to him that he was really going off to war.  It had all been a little surreal before.  It was hard to comprehend that it was really happening, that he really was the soldier he'd been genetically programmed to be.  He thought of Maria waiting back at the compound and frowned.

Half the movies ever made are about soldiers with chicks waiting at home for them, she'd told him once.  But he'd never wanted her to be one of those chicks.  He tore his gaze away from the lights that got closer every second and buried the guilt he felt about Maria.  He knew he needed to be as clear-minded as possible for the upcoming battle.

Not for the first time, Kyle wondered what he'd ever done to end up involved in something so complicated as life as an alien.  Though he knew he had to participate in this war, there was still a part of him that wanted to run screaming back to the compound and just hide in a corner until someone else facilitated the takedown of Kivar.  But what he'd said to Isabel of his commitment to the aliens was true.  He owed them his life, and he would stand by them.  Even if it meant going to war.

Too quickly for all concerned the lights got closer and closer, and soon the dark outline of Skyview Castle was clearly visible.

"All right, this is what we're going to do.  Go to your assigned area and wait until sunrise, which is in...one hour," Liam instructed, glancing at his watch.  "At sunrise begin the assault.  There will be no waiting; we must all attack at once.  To make the coordination easier, your watches will beep when it's time to launch the attack.  You know the order of battle.  Is everything clear?"

Max, Michael, and Kyle nodded silently.

"Max, we'll separate when you're ready.  But first let me ask you one thing."

"What?"

"Please, Max.  Be very careful.  If something happens to you...or Michael and Kyle for that matter, but especially to you, the cause could very well be lost."

Max nodded solemnly, knowing the weight he carried on his shoulders was a heavy one.  "I will, if for no other reason than the fact that my wife is waiting sleepless at home for me."

Liam nodded.

Max turned to his surrogate brothers.  "Michael..."

"I know, Max.  Don't worry; I got a wife waiting at home, too.  I'll be just as careful as you."

Max nodded and embraced Michael, then turned to Kyle.  "Kyle, I know we haven't always gotten on well, but I want you to know that I would trust you with my life, the lives of my family, and the life of my wife."

Kyle nodded, knowing how much that meant to both of them.  "Thank you, Max.  The same goes for you."

"If anything happens to me..."

"Nothing will happen," Kyle interrupted.  "But if it does I will look after Isabel and Liz."

Max nodded and shook Kyle's hand and thumped him on the back in the classic "man hug."

Max shifted his serious gaze to Liam.  "Let's go."

They split up, each giving the appropriate signals to their men to get moving.  Each division quickly and quietly moved to their assigned positions to wait out the last hour of darkness.

Max thought of Liz.  He knew she would be devastated if he died, knew she wasn't sleeping.  He didn't question how he knew she was sleepless; he just accepted the strength of their connection.  He tried to send positive vibes in Liz's direction, but he knew that it really wouldn't help much.  He was still going to war.  He turned his thoughts to the upcoming battle, and for the first time in a long time, said a prayer.

Michael blocked thoughts of Maria while inwardly praying for his safety for her sake.  He tried to concentrate on the battle ahead.  His eyes stayed trained on the eastern horizon, his ears alert for the beeping of his watch.  He was ready to fight.

Kyle was running through a litany of prayers to Buddha, trying desperately to think of an official one for safety in battle.  _Too bad Buddhism is such a non-violent religion, he thought caustically.  __I don't think anybody wrote any prayers for protection in battle.  He made up his own and waited for dawn._

The silence around them was deafening.

Tristan and Nikolai waited anxiously in the control room.

"You said Christiana said she and Serena were gonna be down here around nine?" Nikolai asked Tristan tensely.

Tristan nodded absently.  "Yeah, nine."

"Great, we'll be full-swing by then."

"We can't keep them away longer than we already have."

"I know, but it won't be fun watching them worry."

"What if they bring the rest of the girls?"

Nikolai looked sharply at Tristan.  "They wouldn't!"

"They might."

"This is no place for the wives of the men fighting!  You can hear the fucking battle!"  Nikolai shot out of his chair and began pacing.  "It's bad enough that Christiana and Serena come, but they've been there and done that.  Liz, Maria, Isabel...they don't what it's like!"

"Sit down, Nik.  Maybe they won't come."

Nikolai nodded and sat down.  The two men sat in tense silence, waiting for sunrise.

Liz sat silently in the study adjacent to her room.  She was staring out an east-facing window, thinking only of Max, the battle, and the tall thin man she'd seen in her dreams.  As she stared, the sun slowly rose above the horizon.

A/N – Glad you liked the last chapter.  Sorry I've been away, but it couldn't be helped.  Dragon Empress, it's nice to see how much you trust me, lol.  Does anything happen to Max?  Who knows?  And just who is that tall, thin man with murder in his eyes?  So many questions…answers are coming, though I've got a few more chapters in me before the story's done.  Then we get to move on to the next one, lol.


	27. Launch the Attack

**Title:** King's Opening

**Rating:** PG-13/R

**Category:** M/L, M/M, Ky/I

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Roswell and I never have. Don't sue me, I'm just a poor college student, you wouldn't get anything anyway. 

**Summary:** Part One of the Battlefield Antar series. The group is summoned to Antar after a year roaming the US in their battered VW van.

**Chapter 27 – Launch the Attack**

As the sun rose, four men sucked in their breath while four watches beeped softly.  Four men shouted orders to their men.  Four divisions of the Antar Royal Army rushed forward towards Skyview Castle.

Inside the castle, Erik and his men discreetly allowed the shields to fall for enough time so that the approaching army could make it to the castle walls, then began fighting their way towards the courtyard.

The weapons they carried were sophisticated laser guns.  Max, Michael, and Kyle had spent hours being taught how to use the guns before they left the Resistance compound.  They also carried small devices that created an invisible shield much like the green on Max could create around their bodies.  For desperate situations, they all carried medium-sized swords, except for Max, who carried the royal sword.

In their leather pants and flowing shirts with swords at their sides, they looked every inch the old-world hero, except for the guns they carried.

Max and his men reached the castle wall easily and began to climb.  The wall was high, but Max knew they could make it.  They'd drilled with higher walls than this.  The sun had just barely crept fully above the horizon line when Max and the first wave of his division reached the top of the wall and climbed onto the parapet behind it.  They met with little resistance, easily put down, until they began to take various routes to the courtyard.

Defensive fire rained down on Kyle and his men.  Or at least that's how it felt to Kyle.  He supposed that Michael was experiencing worse, but Kyle had never fought a war before, and it seemed to him that there were an awful lot of little flashes in front of his face indicating that another laser beam had been deflected by his shield.

"Man, I thought the bad guys weren't supposed to be able to hit the broadside of a barn," he grumbled as a flash appeared right in front of his head.  He returned fire, as did the rest of his division.  Soon the defensive fire lessened, and Kyle gave the order to scale the walls.

Michael could barely see through the laser flashes hitting his personal shield.

"Hold the line!" he yelled.  "Return fire!"

Kneeling, he began to shoot at the defenders above the main gate of the castle.  The sound of the battle was deafening.  He was surprised he could hear himself think, let alone that his men could hear the orders he gave, however loud he shouted them.

Slowly Michael's men made it to the huge doors of the castle gate.  With a quarter of the division still picking off defenders for cover, the rest of the division pointed their guns at the doors.

"On my order," Michael yelled, aiming his gun.  He took a deep breath, reminding himself that this was what he was born for.  "Three, two, one...FIRE!"

As his division of soldiers broke through the back door, Liam allowed himself a moment to think of Max, Michael, and Kyle.  He wondered how they were managing.  Concentrating for a moment, he determined that they were all still alive, at least.  Drawing small comfort from that, he turned his mind back to the battle.

"Split!" he shouted to his men over the din of battle.  Following the plan, his division split into three groups and headed for the courtyard following different paths.  He turned to the right and headed down a narrow corridor.

In the control room, the colonel put in charge of the castle shouted into a communicator.

"Dammit, HQ, we're under attack here!  Do you copy?"

"We copy," a monotone voice answered.  "The CIC has been informed and will be in the Com Center shortly."

"I don't need the commander-in-chief shortly, I need him now!"

At that moment the commander-in-chief walked in and grabbed the com link.

"Colonel Forester, this is General Maikos, what's your situation?"

"Sir, we're under a full-blown attack by the royal forces.  They're coming from all sides, we can't hold them."

Maikos swore softly.  There was nothing to be done.  But Forester didn't need to know that quite yet.  Besides, there were a few checks he could make before giving the surrender order.

"Keep fighting, don't let go.  I'll get some people checking on a few units stat and get back to you."

"Yes, sir."

The communication was disconnected.  Maikos turned to the nearest soldier.

"Get Daimtos in here and for God's sake make sure Kivar doesn't hear about this from anyone but me or Daimtos!"

The soldier nodded and ran to find the head of intelligence.

Kivar slept in his bed in what had formerly been Zan's quarters.  He did not sleep peacefully, however.  His dreams were haunted by the faces of the royal family, both new and old.  He saw them in Skyview Castle, then the palace in Antarina, the royal flag flying proudly behind them.  He saw Max, Michael, and Isabel as they had been on Isabel's honeymoon.  He saw Vilandra, giving up her family for him and then losing everything.  He saw Isabel refusing to do the same.  The images condensed into one, and his dreams were filled with her.

He knew nothing of the battle that raged elsewhere in his kingdom.

A tall, thin man woke to the sounds of battle.  Without hurry or fuss he rose from his bed and reached for his clothes.  Pulling them on, he calmly went to his tiny closet.  From it he pulled out the pieces of the Antarian version of a sniper's rifle.  He sat down on the bed, quickly and efficiently assembling the weapon.  Then he left the room.

Serena and Christiana walked into the control room back at the Resistance compound and immediately realized that the battle was in full swing.

"You didn't call us when it started!" Serena said accusingly.

"We didn't want to wake you," Nikolai tried.

"Not good enough!" Serena snapped.  "You knew we wanted to be here, I should have known you'd try and pull some macho over-protective crap."

"Calm down, Rena," Christiana said quietly.  "You can ream them out later, once we've won the battle."

Serena nodded.  She turned back to Nikolai.  "You're just lucky the rest of the girls didn't want to come with us."

Nikolai fought to control his temper.  "You actually asked them?  They wouldn't like it in here."

"Which is why they said they didn't want to come."  Serena slid into her seat in front of a com screen.  "It took me three tries to get Liz's attention.  She was just staring out at the sunrise."

Liz still stared at the eastern sky, all her thoughts focused on the feel of Max's soul still connected to hers.

A/N – Sorry for the delay, I kept meaning to post and never got around to it.  The battle goes on…how're the nerves?  (lol)  Almost done…then on to story #2!  *whew*  ~~Liz


	28. Interim

**Title:** King's Opening

**Rating:** PG-13/R

**Category:** M/L, M/M, Ky/I

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Roswell and I never have. Don't sue me, I'm just a poor college student, you wouldn't get anything anyway. 

**Summary:** Part One of the Battlefield Antar series. The group is summoned to Antar after a year roaming the US in their battered VW van.

**Chapter 28 - Interim**

Maria stood silently behind Liz, who hadn't noticed Maria's presence.  Maria wasn't sure she should bother Liz at all, but Liz had been sitting in the same place since before dawn, and though it was only ten o'clock, Maria was still worried.  Isabel hadn't even woken up yet, which was unusual for her, but Maria had checked on her and found her sleeping deeply but breathing.  But Liz was breathing slowly, and her eyes were unfocused.

"Chica, you have to eat," Maria finally said.  Liz didn't move.  Maria moved around to crouch down in front of Liz.  She took Liz's hands in hers and shook them gently.  "Liz, come on.  You need to eat so that when Max gets back he'll have a wife to come home to."

"I have to concentrate Maria.  If I concentrate, I can feel him.  He's afraid but he's brave.  He's getting tired.  But he's alive."  Liz didn't so much as look at Maria as she spoke.

Maria dropped Liz's hands and took Liz's face in her hands again, forcing Liz to look at her.  "Liz, you have to come eat, okay?  For me?"  She got no response.  "For Max?"

Liz appeared to think about it for the first time.  Finally she looked into Maria's eyes.  "Okay, but I can't leave Max for long."

Maria nodded, pulled Liz into a hug.  "You're always with him, Chica, you know that."

Liz gave a slight smile and followed Maria silently into the kitchen.

Isabel rolled over in Kyle's bed.  She was dreaming, and didn't want to leave the dream.  In it, she and Kyle were stargazing on the roof of the Resistance compound.

"It's nice to be able to do this with someone again," dream Isabel was saying.

Dream Kyle wrapped his arms around Isabel's waist and pulled her back against his chest.  "I'm glad you feel you can."

"With you," she replied softly.

He kissed the top of her head tenderly and she leaned back against his shoulder.  His face was close to hers, his mouth close to her mouth.  She knew in another minute they would be kissing, and she couldn't find any reason to stop it from happening.  She closed her eyes.

"Vilandra."

Dream Isabel's eyes flew open.  Why would Kyle call her Vilandra?  Then she saw that suddenly was being held by Kivar, not Kyle.

"No!" she screamed, and jumped out of his embrace.  "No, I don't want you!"

"You do, Vilandra.  You always have."

"No.  You're a liar and a murderer.  I don't want you!"

"You will.  You do.  We will be together soon, my beloved."

"NO!" Isabel shot to a sitting position in Kyle's bed, breathing heavily.  She looked around the room in a panic, half-expecting Kivar to be sitting in a corner.  Of course he wasn't, and she fought for control.  She lay back onto the pillows, breathing deeply and drawing comfort from Kyle's scent.

"I don't want him," she said softly to no one.  "And I never will."

Serena, Nikolai, Tristan, and Christiana sat tensely in the control room, the sounds of battle all around them.  They didn't speak to each other, and only spoke at all when on of the generals at the battle addressed them, which was rarely.

"Dammit!  Oh shit!"  Erik's voice was more panicked than it had ever been.  Nikolai sat up straighter and fought to keep from getting panicky himself.

"What is it Erik?  What's wrong?" he said loudly.

"I just found out that Dimitri Raies is in the castle."

Tristan shot out of his seat, and Serena and Christiana lost all color in their faces.

"How the hell did the most effective assassin on Antar get into the castle without us knowing about it?" Tristan yelled.

"I don't know," Erik yelled back.

Serena's eyes filled with fear.  "Does Max know?" she asked urgently.

Erik didn't respond right away, and the four people in the control room held their breaths.

"No," came Erik's answer, and everyone fell silent.

"Start praying," Tristan said softly.

Generals Daimtos and Maikos sat tensely in Kivar's War Room.

"We're just lucky Kivar hasn't woken up yet," Daimtos said grimly.

"I know," replied Maikos.  "There's no way we can win the battle.  They will gain control of the castle."

Daimtos nodded.  "How the hell are we gonna tell Kivar without getting ourselves killed?"

Maikos made no response.  They sat in silence for a few minutes before Daimtos spoke again.

"You're sure the reinforcements you set aside wouldn't be able to take the castle back?"

"Our entire army and space force combined couldn't take that castle back from the King while he still draws breath.  The only reason we got control of it in the first place was because the king was dead."

"I was afraid of that."

In the Skyview control room, Colonel Forester was still making panic communications with the headquarters, despite being told multiple times that General Maikos was still meeting with General Daimtos and could not be reached.

"We're losing, dammit!" he yelled to the unhelpful soldier on the other end of the line.

"I understand, sir, but I cannot interrupt the general."

Colonel Forester dropped into the closest chair in defeat.  The sounds of battle were getting closer.  He pulled his gun from the hip holster he wore and made sure it was primed and ready to fire.  If he was going to go down, he was going to take some with him.

A/N – Sorry that updates are farther apart now, but school intervenes.  You're worried?  I'm gonna take that as a compliment to my writing, lol.  Seriously, though, you guys have been awesome about always giving feedback and it has really helped me to keep on writing, so thanks!


	29. Taking Aim

**Title:** King's Opening

**Rating:** PG-13/R

**Category:** M/L, M/M, Ky/I

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Roswell and I never have. Don't sue me, I'm just a poor college student, you wouldn't get anything anyway. 

**Summary:** Part One of the Battlefield Antar series. The group is summoned to Antar after a year roaming the US in their battered VW van.

**Chapter 29 – Taking Aim**

"How do you know that Dimitri Raies is in the castle, Erik?" Tristan asked tensely.

"One of my soldiers saw him run by with his gun."

"And he didn't follow him?" Nikolai asked incredulously.

"He couldn't.  He was otherwise engaged."

"Otherwise engaged?"

"The poor bastard was fighting for his life, Nik, what do you want?"

Nikolai colored slightly.  "Sorry, man."

"Where are we in terms of the battle plan, Erik?" Serena asked.

"All four of the divisions have met in the courtyard.  Michael, Kyle, and Liam's divisions are about to secure the castle."

"Who's taking the Control Room?"

"Michael."

"So Max, who is most likely Raies' target, is going to be alone in the courtyard?" Christiana asked worriedly.

"Well, his division will be with him, but he'll be the only commander.  I'd go, but I need to stay here to keep on top of everything."  Erik glanced around the shields room.

"We understand," Tristan assured Erik.  "This was how we planned it, after all."

Isabel ventured out of Kyle's room a few minutes after waking up from her dream turned nightmare and sat in the kitchen with Maria and Liz.  Liz was still staring blankly, although she was slowly and methodically eating a small bowl of oatmeal.

Maria smiled slightly and set a bowl down in front of Isabel.  She sniffed it experimentally and smiled back.

"Maple and brown sugar.  My favorite."

"I know," Maria replied.  "How are you doing?"

Isabel shook her head.  "Not my best, but I'll be okay."

Maria nodded sympathetically as she sat down across from Isabel and next to Liz.  She gazed speculatively at Isabel for a few moments.

"You're falling for Kyle, aren't you?" she asked softly.

Isabel jumped slightly.  She hesitated.  She was just beginning to realize the extent of her feelings for Kyle and come to terms with them.  Dare she share them?  Would it jinx them?

"Liz and I won't tell anyone."  Maria grinned sheepishly.  "Except our husbands.  Husbands are exempt from the telling no one rule."

Isabel gave a weak smile, then decided to bite the bullet and tell her "sisters" the truth.

"I think I might be."

Maria beamed, glad for a distraction.  "Liz!  Did you hear that?  Isabel's falling for Kyle!"

Liz seemed to emerge from a haze.  "Who's falling for Kyle?"

Maria sighed.  "Isabel!"

Liz managed a smile for her.  "Good for you, I'm glad you can be happy with someone again."

"Max will be okay, Liz." Isabel said softly.

"I know.  He wouldn't let anything come between us now.  But I can't help worrying."

Maria eyed her best friend carefully.  "You haven't had a vision, have you?"

Liz started to shake her head, but then nodded slowly.  "A tall, thin man aiming a gun at the back of Max's head.  I told Max to be careful, but..."

"But you worry anyway," Maria finished for her.

"Did you see anything about Michael or Kyle or the rest?" Isabel asked tensely.

"No."  With that, she sunk back into her daze right before Isabel and Maria's eyes.  They sighed and thought of their own men.

Liam slowly and methodically made it through his section of the hallways, rooting out the last few soldiers.  Most of the soldiers, he knew, would be guarding the control room or still back at the courtyard being dealt with by Max and his division.

Kyle grimaced as yet another enemy soldier refused to surrender and started shooting at them instead.  Fighting valiantly was one thing, but continuing to fight when there was no hope of winning just so one didn't have to live as the loser was another thing completely.

"Keep those shields up, men!" he shouted.  Grimly, he continued to lead them down the hallway.

Michael concentrated on one goal.  Getting to the control room, getting through the door, and gaining control of the castle.  He knew how important his job was.  The enemy was refusing to surrender, and Michael's job was to force one.

He could feel the soldier inside him getting stronger and stronger, and somehow in the midst of the chaos around him, his thoughts turned to Maria.  He had seen many things today that he wouldn't want her to see, but there was no way he could close himself off from her again.  He'd tried it before and it hadn't worked for long.  But would she still want him after the horrors he'd faced?

Too quickly they'd reached the door of the control room.  It was locked of course, and he thought about having the men blast it open, but then thought better of it.  Better to use his powers to unlock the door and come in without the warning hum of building power that the guns gave off.  He crept quietly to the door and unlocked it.

Inside the control room, Colonel Forester sensed the Resistance fighters getting closer, though he wasn't sure if they were outside the door or not.  Nevertheless, he stood up from his chair and aimed his gun steadily at the door.

"They're coming men, get ready!"

The door opened, and Forester opened fire.

Max was poised in the center of the courtyard, fighting off attackers and yelling orders to his men.  The defenders would be concentrated in the courtyard and the control room by this point, he knew.  He dealt with one attacker, and in the pause before another stepped up to fight him, he glanced around at the balconies around him.  There was no one.

Max returned his attention to the battle and pulled out his sword, as the man attacking him now carried one almost as big as Max's.

Suddenly Max felt a prickling at the back of his neck, as if he was being watched.  At first he tried to shake it off, but then Liz's admonition to him before he left came into his mind.  He finished off his attacker without any finesse, only speed, and glanced wildly around.  Who was watching him, and where were they?

Up on a balcony, Dimitri Raies was taking careful aim at Max when suddenly he started to glance wildly around, constantly moving his head.  Raies cursed softly and lowered the gun slightly, willing to wait a few moments longer.  He could get off a shot even with the exiled king moving around, but his ego demanded a cleaner shot.

Max stilled.  He hoped he could pinpoint where the feeling was coming from if he concentrated enough.  The battle raged around him, but he blocked it out, concentrating only on the sensation at the base of his neck.

Raies smiled thinly and took aim once again at the back of Max's head, gauging exactly where to shoot so that the bullet would exit Max's head right between his eyes.

Liz suddenly sat up straight, her eyes clearer than they'd been all morning.  Isabel and Maria, who had been talking quietly about nothing in particular, looked at her sharply.

"Liz, what's wrong?" Isabel asked gently.  Maria reached out and grabbed Liz's hand.

"I feel like, no Max feels like he's being watched.  He's being watched.  The killer, he's there, he's watching Max!"

"Chica, chica, calm down," Maria said soothingly.

"No, Maria, you don't understand!  Max is going to get shot!"  She looked at Isabel wildly.  "Help me," she said simply.

Isabel nodded, instinctively knowing what Liz wanted.  She took Liz's hand.  With their combined powers, it didn't take them more than a second to connect to Max.  

Liz looked wildly around.  Where was Max?  Then she saw him standing stock still, concentrating deeply in the center of the courtyard.  She ran closer to him, yelling.

Max opened his eyes in shock.  He'd just heard Liz's voice.  He saw her then, running towards him, pointing behind him and screaming incoherently.  He swung around in time to see a gun pointed at him in the balcony behind him.  Seemingly in slow motion, he saw the flash of it going off and then raised his hand while moving out of the way and sent an energy blast at the man holding the gun.

And then he was on the ground, slowly getting up and looking wildly around for Liz.  But like the time she'd "visited" him in New York, she was already gone.  He transferred his gaze to the balcony on which his attacker had been standing.  All that was there was the lifeless body of Dimitri Raies.

A/N – Well, there you go, Max is okay.  Thanks for continuing to review.  Just a few more things to wrap up, eh?  Like…what happened to Michael?  And of course, the reunion of all our favorite couples.  *grins*  Glad you guys are enjoying it!


	30. Cleanup

**Title:** King's Opening

**Rating:** PG-13/R

**Category:** M/L, M/M, Ky/I

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Roswell and I never have. Don't sue me, I'm just a poor college student, you wouldn't get anything anyway. 

**Summary:** Part One of the Battlefield Antar series. The group is summoned to Antar after a year roaming the US in their battered VW van.

**Chapter 30 - Cleanup**

Michael was momentarily stunned by the brilliant flash of light inches in front of his face.  He quickly realized that he had left his personal shield on, and that it was a good thing he had.  Grimly he shouted to his men to make sure they still had theirs on and returned fire.  Within minutes, the control room had been secured.

"Michael to Liam," he said calmly into his radio.

"Yeah, Michael?" Liam responded.

"Control Room secure.  How's everything elsewhere?"

"I just got Kyle's report, his section of the castle is secure, and so is mine."

"And Max?"

Liam hesitated.  "I haven't heard."

"I'm going to him.  Over and out."  Without another word, Michael put a nearby colonel in charge of the control room and ran swiftly to the courtyard.

The courtyard was strewn with the bodies of fallen soldiers.  Max had done what he could, but many just couldn't be saved.  When Michael arrived at the edge of the courtyard, Max was standing dazedly in the center.  The majority of Max's division was sitting or standing around resting.  A few were guarding the small group of prisoners who finally surrendered.

"Maxwell!" Michael yelled, running to Max's side.  "Maxwell, you okay, man?" he asked, pushing on Max' shoulder lightly to get his attention.

Max came out of his daze.

"She did it again."

"What?"  Michael grabbed both Max's shoulders as if to shake him again.

"Liz.  She did it again.  That's the third time."

Michael dropped his hands.  Clearly this was another Max-Liz-look-into-my-eyes-soulmate thing.  "What'd she do?"

"She saved my life.  Like she did in New York."

Michael shook his head and made a mental note to thank whatever God was listening for bringing Liz Parker into Max's life.  Michael didn't know what he would do without his best friend and surrogate brother.

"Good for Liz.  Why didn't you radio in to tell us you were all right?"

"I was almost killed."

"So were all of us.  We're at war."

"No, assassinated.  I was almost assassinated."  Max pointed up at the balcony and Raies' body.  "That guy, whoever the hell he is.  Liz saw him in a premonition, and she must have seen him again for her to have come when she did.  I was facing the other way, and suddenly Liz was there pointing up behind me.  I turn and look and there's a guy just about to shoot me.  He does, but I jump out of the way and blast him before he can run."

Michael whistled through his teeth and decided to thank God for Liz Parker right then and there.

"Close shave, man."

Max laughed softly and glanced at the place where he'd seen Liz.  "Yeah."

He picked up his radio and informed Liam of his safety and the end of the battle.  Ten minutes later Liam, Kyle, and Erik had joined Max and Michael in the courtyard.

"So we can go home now, right?" Kyle asked.

Liam glanced at Erik.

"Actually," Erik began, "we were thinking that maybe we should move headquarters here."

Max looked around.

"It wasn't very hard to take this castle."

"It couldn't be," Liam responded.

"What?" Max asked sharply.

"As long as you live, this castle cannot be taken away from you and any battle for it will always favor you.  That's why we want to move headquarters here."

Max nodded.  "We should clean it up first.  I don't want my girls seeing all this until they absolutely have to."

"Of course," Liam answered, nodding.  "Serena's seen all this before and I still don't want her to see it unless she has to.  I've already got people working on it."

Erik nodded as well.  "In fact, with all the people we have working on cleaning the joint up, it should be ready for everyone to move in by the day after tomorrow."

Michael looked up sharply.  "And you want us to stay here until then?"

"That would be the safest course of action, yes."

"I want to see my wife!" Michael exclaimed.

"So do Max and I," Liam said quietly.  "But sometimes we have to wait."

Michael nodded.

"The day after tomorrow?" Maria yelled incredulously.  "I want to see my husband!"

Tristan glanced at Nikolai, who glanced at Christiana, who looked pointedly at Serena.  Serena sighed.

"Look, Maria, I know you want to see Michael.  I want to see Liam.  Liz wants to see Max.  Christiana wants to see her brother.  Heck, we all want to see all of them.  But we have to wait until they have the castle ready."

Tristan put his hand on Maria's arm.  "Trust me, Maria, you don't want to see the castle now.  Not until they've cleaned up and cleared out all the remnants of what the usurper had in there.  He didn't exactly keep it as a nice place to live."

Maria frowned.

"Erik said everyone was all right?" Isabel asked anxiously.

Serena nodded gently.  "Yes, Isabel.  Everyone's fine."

"So is everyone okay with the current plan?" Nikolai asked.  "Liz?" he added.

Liz had been silent throughout, and hadn't told anyone who wasn't with her at the time about her visit to Max.  She looked up at Nikolai and smiled.  "I'm okay with it.  Max is fine, I'm okay with anything."

Nikolai smiled at Liz in return.  "Okay then, meeting adjourned."

The group dispersed.  Liz went back to the study and pulled her journal out of the desk.

_July 3rd – The battle is over and we won.  I think deep down I knew we would, not because of my powers but because I have faith in the power of good over evil.  It's easy for me to say that now, though, when I'm not in any immediate danger and neither is Max.  Tristan told Maria she didn't want to see the scene of the battle and he was right.  I didn't see much when I saved Max...but what I did see I didn't want to.  War is brutal, no matter how necessary it is, and it makes people do brutal things.  But then again, and I feel a little bad saying this...it was kind of sexy to see Max swinging that great big sword around in that great uniform.  Now I'm just rambling.  But I guess I'm entitled, I did see war firsthand today.  In two days I'll be with Max again, and my happiness will be complete.  My heart's already there with him, and I think he knows that._

A/N – Almost done.  One more chapter, and then I have to start the second story.  And decide on a title for it...oh well, all in good time.  Hope you all liked this chapter.  Thank you for sticking with me even now when my updates are getting further apart.  I promise to keep updating even though I have class and stuff, just less often!  You guys are the best!  :)


	31. Epilogue

**Title:** King's Opening

**Rating:** PG-13/R

**Category:** M/L, M/M, Ky/I

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Roswell and I never have. Don't sue me, I'm just a poor college student, you wouldn't get anything anyway. 

**Summary:** Part One of the Battlefield Antar series. The group is summoned to Antar after a year roaming the US in their battered VW van.

**Chapter 31 - Epilogue**

The transport slowed to a stop in the courtyard of Skyview Castle.  Maria squeezed Liz's hand excitedly.  Liz smiled serenely and glanced over at Isabel.  Isabel was smiling, but was oddly pale.  She appeared to be nervous about something.

Liz shrugged inwardly.  Isabel had said that she thought she was falling for Kyle.  Maybe she was nervous about seeing him again.  She sympathized with Isabel but it couldn't put a damper on the serene and happy smile on her face.  She was going to see Max again.  Alive and whole and all hers.

Max, Michael, Kyle, Liam, and Erik stood a few feet away from the transport's doors.  Max was grinning like a loon.  His Liz was with him again.  Liam and Erik were smiling happily, excited despite being well used to post-battle reunions.  Kyle was smiling nervously.  He knew his relationship with Isabel was on odd footing, and that Nikolai had seemed to be interested too.  Would Izzy have turned to him while Kyle was gone?  

Michael was still worried about all the things he'd seen, the things Maria would see through him.  He knew the first thing Maria would do when she jumped out of that transport would be to kiss him, to connect to him.  He didn't know how she would react to what she might see.

The door of the transport slowly opened.  Nikolai stepped out first and shook each man's hand and thumped them on the back.  While he did that, Tristan stepped out of the transport.  He immediately turned back towards the door and offered his hand to Christiana, who stepped down carefully and gave Tristan a grateful smile before running into her brother's arms.

Serena jumped down and ran to her husband.  Tristan stayed by the door, offering each woman a hand down.

Maria and Liz stood behind Isabel and watched her hesitate before stepping down, gratefully holding onto Tristan's hand.

"She's got it bad," whispered Maria as she stepped forward.

"Sure does," Liz agreed.

They stepped down at the same time, and the three women stood frozen staring at their men.  Then all six were moving at once.

Max and Liz buried their faces in each other's shoulders.

"You saved me, Liz, you saved me."

"I was so worried, so scared.  God, Max, when I saw him again..."

"It's all right, it's all right," he chanted softly, kissing her hair, breathing in the smell of her shampoo.  They hugged each other tightly, never wanting to let go.

"I love you," they said.

Maria launched herself into Michael's arms.  He held her up off the ground and spun her around.  She laughed like she hadn't laughed in years before fusing her lips to his.

_This is it, Michael thought distantly.  __Now she'll see the Michael-soldier and she'll pull away and never want to touch me again._

Maria saw vague images of war, felt Michael's terror and felt his desperate courage.  She felt his insecurity.  She loved him even more.  She ended the kiss slowly and looked deep into Michael's tortured eyes.

"I love you, Michael Guerin.  I always will."

Michael broke out into the biggest grin he'd ever grinned.  Maria still loved him and all was right in his world.  Whatever that world was called.

Isabel and Kyle took slow, tentative steps towards one another.  The sounds of Serena, Liam, and the rest talking faded away.  They didn't see Michael and Maria spinning or Max and Liz holding each other.  All they saw was each other.

"I was worried," Isabel said softly.

"I'm fine," Kyle said just as softly.

They inched closer to each other.

"I missed you."

"Missed you, too, Princess."  With his words, Kyle reached out to stroke Isabel's cheek.  She pressed her cheek into his hand and gazed into his eyes.  They stood frozen like that for long seconds, and then suddenly they were kissing.  Isabel's hands were in Kyle's hair and his were framing her cheeks and they were kissing.  And they were happy.

Fifteen minutes later, the group was assembled in the main conference room of the castle.

"Welcome to Skyview Castle," Liam said graciously.  "Hopefully your current stay here will not be very long, because we hope to move into the palace as soon as possible!"

The group smiled at Liam's bravado.  The meeting commenced, and they discussed everything from room assignments to staff hiring to when and where Max should give a speech announcing the victory.

"At the risk of sounding like a certain blonde-haired bimbo we all know and hate," Isabel began, "what do we do now, Max?"

The royal six managed to smile at the Tess reference.  Max glanced at Liam before replying.

"We wait.  The army needs a few more days to regroup, plus we don't want to act rashly.  We need to plan.  Skyview was a golden opportunity, and we hope that by taking advantage of it more will appear."

Later, Max and Liz stood on their private balcony watching the sun set.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Liz asked softly.

"Mmm-hmm," Max replied, looking at Liz.  "Beautiful."

A/N – Well that's it.  King's Opening is finished!  Woo-hoo!  Thanks to everyone who's left feedback, especially DragonEmpress, StardustDreamer, fairysk8r, Lilac Stardust, Marilyne, and Katie.  You guys are awesome!  Don't forget to be on the lookout for the next story in the series, which I still have to figure out a name for.  Don't worry, I'll make sure that the summary says it's part 2 of Battlefield Antar and sequel to this one.


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